Scar Tissue
by Obsydian Mirror
Summary: For Huntsmen and Huntresses, scars are reminders of the few times that Aura wasn't enough. The Fall of Beacon left scars on everyone, although few were visible to the naked eye. For Jaune, his scar ran deeper than most but will he be able to push forward or will he fall to despair?
1. Fall

**Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

The cool night air greeted Jaune as he and Pyrrha raced out of the ruined lobby of Beacon Tower. He rested his hands on his knees while he caught his breath, his partner composed as ever next to him. He pulled his Scroll out from his pocket, swiping through his contacts and muttering something about contacting Goodwitch. His mind went back to the events that transpired in the strange room where Ozpin and the black-haired intruder now fought.

"Pyrrha? What was all of that?"

Pyrrha guiltily faced him, clearly uncomfortable and nervous about the events that had played out in the subterranean vault. She remained silent as he finished looking through his contacts and switched over to call history to find Goodwitch's number on his Scroll.

"I-I..."

Whatever response she was about to give Jaune was abruptly cut off as a fiery roar reverberated out from the tower behind them. Both of them turned in shock, the intruder had clearly shown a mastery over fire while Ozpin had always kept his cards close to his chest. The implications did not bode well for the headmaster prevailing.

 _SKREEEEEEE!_

An ear-piercing cry echoed through the night as the Dragon swooped by them, leaving an enormous trail of black liquid behind it as it landed on the side of the tower and began to climb up. Dozens of lesser Grimm began rising out of the goop and immediately charged towards their position without hesitation. Jaune tightened the grip on Crocea Mors as a swarm of Beowolves, Ursai and Creeps descended upon them. He raised his shield in preparation of the wave of Grimm surging towards them only to lower it in confusion as the armorclad form of Pyrrha stepped in front of him defensively.

"Get into the tower, Jaune."

"Wha-? Pyrrha, I can fight!" He incredulously shouted at her back.

"One of us needs to find what happened to Ozpin. You go do that, while I keep the Grimm from interfering." Her tone brooked absolutely no argument and Jaune found himself backpedaling towards Beacon Tower. He made his way up the steps as the horde of Grimm neared Pyrrha, looking back he shouted out a final thought.

"You better stay alive until I come back out!"

A raised fist was the only indication that she had heard his farewell before she was all but engulfed in a tidal wave of black and white. Jaune turned and resolutely made his way into the hazy depths of the tower. Several things were abundantly clear to him as he entered the ruined lobby. One, the smell of smoke was prevalent throughout the building as well as a smoky haze in the air, the stairwell up had been blocked by a collapsed roof and the doors to the elevator shaft had been melted open and glowed faintly. Making his way over to the twisted metal, he peered downwards and saw the remains of the car at the bottom of the shaft. Looking upwards, faint light showed where the doors at the top floor had also been melted. Thankfully, the service ladder had remained relatively whole with few rungs melted and the metal was merely warm beneath his gloves when he gripped it. Giving a small grunt, Jaune compacted his shield, sheathed the blade and began climbing the ladder upwards to whatever awaited him.

* * *

Jaune knew he was in a lot of trouble the moment he crawled out of the elevator shaft and into Ozpin's office. The woman from the vault was across the room from him, back turned as she seemingly communed with the Grimm Dragon while watching Pyrrha combat the Grimm below. A large eye rolled in its socket before focusing on him as a reverberating growl filled the tower, alerting the raven-haired woman to his arrival. She looked over her shoulder at him and a smirk spread across her face as she recognized him, clearly not feeling threatened at all by his presence. Jaune drew his sword and extended the shield, doing his best to muster courage.

"Did your partner send you up here, Jaune? Did she think that a death at my hands would be a merciful one compared to being slowly torn apart by a pack of Grimm or perhaps she thought that you might delay me long enough for the rest of your friends to evacuate the city? The most likely reason however, is that she wanted to get rid of you. After all, why would someone as strong and skilled as the great Pyrrha Nikos want to be associated with someone as weak as you? It doesn't matter why you were sent here, all you gained by coming here was death."

She turned back to the Dragon, nodding and it swooped low to the ground, spawning another massive wave of Grimm for Pyrrha to fight. The raven-haired woman refocused on him, tilting her head in a mock expression of pity.

"I know what you truly want Jaune: You want to be a hero and uphold your family legacy by saving others. You have the power to save your friends from my wrath if you so choose. You have a chance to fulfill your dream without any help from your 'partner'."

Her words resonated within Jaune against his will and conjured up an image of his friends, free and safe from the horrors that had transpired this night. He frowned and lowered his shield slightly as he pondered the meaning of her words.

"All right, what would I have to do to protect my friends?"

"Surrender yourself to me and your friends will not be harmed by me tonight."

He nearly said yes immediately, his selflessness calling for him to make the sacrifice for his friends before another part of his brained asked the question of how his friends would react if they knew what he had done. Previously happy silver eyes filled with tears as lilac orbs became blood red, pale blue turned frosty with anger and amber eyes grew guarded once again. Turquoise eyes became hurt and confused while pink eyes hardened in pain but what stopped the words from passing his lips the most was the sheer pain and betrayal that was evident in his partner's emerald gaze. He shook his head to clear it and raised his shield once more as his eyes narrowed at the crimson clad figure in front of him.

"Sacrificing myself would hurt my friends worse than you ever could."

Her smirk reemerged as she created a ball of flame in her palm and tossed it back and forth between her hands. It was soon joined by several more before they soared at him at high speed.

"Then burn anyways."

Jaune jumped out of the way of the attack before charging towards Cinder, shield held in front of him. Two more fireballs exploded against his shield before Jaune tried to tackle the woman to the ground. She merely stepped out of the way as he passed past her, swiping wildly with his sword. The floor below him morphed into an orange and black vortex and he rolled out of the way as a pillar of fire erupted next to him, the heat alone nearly unbearable even through his Aura. Whirling on Cinder, he kept his shield up defensively as she pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"Mmmmm. While your Aura is quite impressive, Jaune, all it will mean is more pain for you."

She waved her arm and a whip-like flame followed the gesture, wrapping around his leg. He grunted in pain and dropped to one knee, glaring daggers at his opponent. Pulling his leg through the fire, he sheathed the blade of Crocea Mors as a volley of fire soared towards him. Wielding the shield in both hands, he blocked most of the fireballs, although a couple slipped by his guard and scorched paths across his sleeve as well as his shoulder. Wincing at his raw arm, he drew the blade again and tentatively closed the gap between himself and Cinder. She impassively watched him draw nearer before holding out her arms as he charged her once he got within ten feet of her.

Twin blades of blackened glass formed in her hands as she dropped to the floor, allowing her to effortlessly parry Jaune's swing before striking his unprotected leg. Letting him maintain the offensive for a couple trades, she continued the pattern of parry then counter-attack. Jaune suddenly drew his blade back from a trade and clasped it with both hands before bringing it down on her head with a fierce yell. Cinder crossed her blades overhead, catching his blade between hers. They vied for control for a few seconds, Jaune attempting to cleave her head open while Cinder pushed upwards against the surprisingly powerful strike. Cinder smirked at Jaune, her sudden confidence throwing him off guard before she easily overpowered him as she unlocked the blades and throwing him off-balance. She brought a leg up and caught him square in the breastplate with a snap kick, sending him flying backwards into the wall of Ozpin's office.

The masonry around him cracked from the force of his impact and he fell to the floor. Stumbling to his feet, his growl of frustration turned into a yelp as Cinder extended both hands and a beam of fire shot towards him. Bringing his shield up, he weathered the blast before pushing into it. He walked forward, slowly building up speed as the parts of his body not covered by his shield were protected from the damage of the fire but not the heat by the Aura that he could _feel_ draining away. He reached Cinder and turned his forward momentum into a spinning kick to the back of her knee. While ineffectual at best in terms of actually hurting her, it did stagger her enough to end the stream of fire and throw her briefly off balance. He quickly collapsed Crocea Mors and sheathed the blade before whipping behind Cinder, using the metal sheath to grab her in a choke hold.

She gasped briefly before bringing her arms up and grasping the metal against her throat. The sheath slowly began to glow like fresh forged steel, heating up to unbearable temperatures. Jaune stumbled back with a cry of pain, palms blistered and gloves burned away. A winged form was growing larger in the window and the floor beneath Jaune and Cinder cracked and rippled before finally giving way beneath them as the Grimm Dragon crashed into it, sending both him and Cinder tumbling through the air towards the floor 30 feet below them. He expanded his shield mid-air, fending off a few pieces of rubble before one caught the tip of his sword and sent it spinning from his hand.

He crashed into the floor on his side, groaning as a pale yellow glow crackled over him, signifying his drained Aura. He pushed himself to his feet, stepping forward only to collapse from the agony that jolted through him from his right leg. Gritting his teeth, Jaune discarded his shield and dragged himself towards his blade, leaving a trail of bloody handprints. He grimaced when he saw that most of the blade had been trapped under one of the gears from the office ceiling. He tugged gingerly at the hilt a couple times, frowning when he felt the immense resistance to the movements. A shadow fell over him as his blistered and bloodied hand closed firmly around the hilt of Crocea Mors. Rolling onto his back, all he could see was the silhouette of Cinder against the starry sky above them. Her eyes glowed with menacing power and a thin veneer of fire danced over her entire body. She reformed one of her glass twinblades and swung it at his face. Ignoring the pain from his hand, he yanked the hilt of Crocea Mors with all his might. A loud crack sounded as the blade snapped a foot from the hilt as he swung it desperately in an attempt to parry from his awkward position. However, as his broken blade collided with Cinder's, the glass sword seemed to shatter around Crocea Mors before reforming and continuing its path unimpeded.

Jaune screamed in agony as the side of his face was laid open to the bone by the edge of Cinder's blade. He flung his broken blade to the side and clutched at the bleeding gash, writhing on the ground in pain. His screaming was abruptly cut off as Cinder's blazing hand wrapped itself around his throat and lifted him into the air, both strangling him as well as charring his throat. He dangled from her grip, one hand still held over his face while the other pulled and twisted at her wrist, slathering it in hot blood.

"Well Jaune, you put up quite the fight. However, in the end you fell before me like so many before you. All your foolish bravery has earned is a more excruciating end for you and your friends."

Jaune's right eye opened up, blazing with hatred and defiance as he coughed the last of the air from his lungs.

"You...won't get...them."

Her other hand came up to caress the armor covering his chest, the hatred and rage in her face belied the gentle motion as she spoke softly to him.

"Just remember that you could have protected them had you surrendered."

Her grip on his throat disappeared as her other hand released a detonation against his breastplate. Jaune was blasted backwards in a cloud of shattered metal and shredded cloth, momentum only halting when he impacted the wall with a sickening crunch. Collapsing limply to the ground, he clung to consciousness as the wall crumbled on top of him. With only his head and one arm exposed, he stared forwards as darkness began to fill his sight. Centered in what remained in\\\of his vision, a small red-clad figure leapt to their feet with a heart-wrenching cry. A white light filled his vision as he heard... Ruby screaming?

 _I guess this is the end._

 _Sorry everybody._

The white light faded to black as his eyes closed and he lost consciousness.

* * *

 **First off, a word about Prism: I've hit a bit of a creative roadblock with recent chapters so I'll be getting back to that as soon as possible once I figure out how to word the next few chapters in a way that works. I'm extremely sorry about how long it's been but hopefully I can get back into writing now that summer has come.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys liked the first chapter of Scar Tissue and I'll see you next chapter!**


	2. Aftermath

**Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

Jaune groaned softly as he woke up in a dark room, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings he found himself in once his oddly limited vision had adjusted to the lack of light. He was laying in a soft bed with cream coloured sheets and a rather comfy pillow. The walls were constructed of vertical wooden planks and gave the room a homely feel to it. Turning his head to the left, he looked out the one window in the room and noted that the sun had not yet risen. He could barely make out a heavy forest in the pre-dawn darkness which meant that wherever he was, he was not in Vale or Beacon. There was also a small end table with a lamp and the broken hilt of Crocea Mors on it. Turning his head to the right, he saw a seated figure dozing at his bedside although a combination of the figure's drooped head as well as the darkness made it impossible to identify them, although he noticed an empty bed behind them.

Acutely aware of his need to relieve his bladder, he moved to get up and find a bathroom. He gave another groan, much louder and filled with pain, as his body shrieked in protest of the sudden movements. The noise was enough to rouse the figure at his bedside but instead of the startled awakening that most people would experience, the figure calmly opened their eyes and regarded Jaune with pink orbs. A hand was placed over his chest, gently yet firmly keeping him in bed as Lie Ren gave him a look of concern.

"Easy there Jaune, you're in no shape to be walking on your own. You need to rest up and let your Aura heal you."

"Ren, I need to find a bathroom fairly soon or things are going to get messy."

Jaune barely recognized the thin, scratchy voice as his own, however long he had been out had rendered his voice hoarse and faint. Ren gave a brief sigh before making his way around the bed, snatching up a pair of crutches on the way. He helped Jaune get into a sitting position on the side of the bed before placing Jaune's right arm around the back of Ren's neck. With Ren's support, he hopped his way down the hallway before they stopped at one door out of many in the corridor. Accepting the crutches from Ren, he made his way into the bathroom before sitting down heavily on the toilet, exhausted by the short trip.

After he quickly relieved his bladder and getting to his feet with difficulty, Jaune made his way to the sink. Unable to find the soap in the dark room, he reached over and flicked on the light before turning back to wash his hands. A badly beaten and ragged looking figure stared back at him from the mirror over the sink. His right leg was held in a fairly sturdy splint that was kept in place by a swathe of bandages. Bandages also were wrapped around his torso, throat and upper arms, while the skin that was left bare was covered in fading burns, bruises and a mesh of thin, pale lines. His face was haggard and worn with bandages wrapped around the crown of his head before descending across his left eye to meet with the bandages around his throat.

Ren helped him sit on the edge of the bed before retaking his position in the chair, the only difference being which side of the bed the chair was on. Behind Ren, the sun had started rising and light began to slowly stream through the window. The black-haired boy regarded Jaune with a look of concern, before lightly smirking and leaning back in his chair with folded arms.

"I take it from the look on your face that you have a few questions?"

Jaune nodded slowly, doing his best not too aggravate his injuries any further. While he felt like he had been put through the ringer, he hadn't expected it to be as bad as what he saw in the mirror.

"You got that right, Ren. First of all, where are we?"

"Right now, we're staying on the island of Patch at the house of Taiyang Xiao Long. He's Ruby and Yang's father, in case you didn't know."

Jaune knew enough about geography to know that Patch was off the coast of Vale, which meant that the city was probably still unsafe for people to stay in. Brief images of Beacon Tower flashed through his head as he recalled his fight with Cinder while hordes of Grimm swarmed Pyrrha. His eye widened, he didn't know what happened to Pyrrha or anyone else after he passed out.

"Did everyone make it out of Beacon?"

Ren closed his eyes briefly and grimaced, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. Jaune's stomach dropped, if it was bad enough to shake Ren then it had to be fairly bad

"Honestly, JNPR made it out of the Fall in much better shape than many would expect. You're definitely in the worst shape out of all of us."

"What about team RWBY?"

A sigh escaped from Ren's lips as he grimaced further. He stared at the floor for a while before lifting his head and meeting Jaune's eyes.

"While it's not my place to talk about them, I will say that they're worse off than we are but they are all alive."

Jaune stared blankly at his hands, still somewhat raw from the burns he received in the fight with Cinder. He sighed, processing what had been said before lifting his head and looking over at Ren, who was staring out the window at the forest. It must have been really bad if the most stoic and composed member of his team flat out refused to discuss it.

"Alright Ren, final questions: how long was I out, how bad are my injuries and where is Crocea Mors?"

"Ruby's uncle Qrow was the one to find both you and Ruby at Beacon. That was five days ago and while he was able to get you to safety, he wasn't able to retrieve your weapon except for the broken hilt due to the encroaching Grimm. As far as we know, the shield half of Crocea Mors is still in the remains of Beacon Tower as well as the top half of the blade. The hilt is sitting on the table next to you."

Ren stood from his chair and retrieved his Scroll from his pocket, checking the time before facing Jaune again. Jaune felt his stomach drop further, if he had been unconscious for five days, then he must have been injured pretty badly.

"As for your injuries, when we got you to Patch you had burns and lacerations covering more than eighty percent of your body. Your right leg was broken in four places and should be healed within a day or two to where you don't need crutches. You had broken or cracked all of your ribs, those have healed pretty much completely..."

His teammates words drifted off into an uncomfortable silence as Ren awkwardly looked at Jaune's face, not quite meeting his gaze. Jaune brought a hand up and gestured towards the bandaged side of his face, imploring his teammate to continue.

"And this? What's with all the bandages across my face?"

"Your face had been cut to the bone which also blinded that eye, Jaune. I'm sorry to be abrupt but I need to go make breakfast now, perhaps you should rest."

Jaune grabbed his crutches and forced himself to stand, shaking slightly from the exertion but refusing to relent.

"I'm not going to be stuck in this room any longer. If I rest, I'm going to do it somewhere where I can interact with other people."

"Fine, but you should put some clothes on first."

Looking down, Jaune realized he was clad in nothing more than a pair of boxers. Glancing back up at Ren sheepishly, he gestured vaguely.

"Okay, where are my clothes?"

"Your armor was shattered and most of your clothes were burned or ripped to tatters. Thankfully, Taiyang mentioned that he had some old clothes in that dresser over there."

Hopping over to the dresser, Jaune pulled out the first clothes that came to hand. Awkwardly and painfully, he dressed himself in a pair of beige cargo pants along with a pale yellow shirt. He slowly made his way down the hall and managed to descend the stairs into the living room with Ren's assistance. Jaune sat down heavily on the green sofa while Ren headed into the kitchen before returning with a tall glass of water for Jaune, who took it gratefully as his teammate returned to his domain. Letting the clatter of pans and faint humming emanating from the kitchen fill the background, he began reflecting on what he had found out.

 _According to Ren, I'm the most injured from our team and RWBY is bad enough that he won't even discuss it. Beacon's fallen, Crocea Mors is broken and missing and I'm blind in one eye. What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can't exactly lead a team while half blind and weaponless._

The sound of footsteps roused him from his thoughts as a tall, blonde man made his way down the stairs and into the living room where Jaune was. He had dark blue eyes that held a level of experience and wisdom surpassed only by his instructors at Beacon. He wore brown cargo shorts, a tan shirt with a sleeve cut off and a vest over the top of it along with a metal spaulder on his right shoulder plus a leather vambrace and glove. He had a patch of facial hair on his chin and part of his hair tufted straight up in a way that was familiar. It took Jaune's brain a couple seconds to make the connection that the reason that he looked familiar was that he shared features with both Yang and Ruby, which meant that he had to have been Taiyang.

Taiyang stopped walking once he stepped off the stairs and noticed that Jaune was sitting on the sofa, but if he was surprised at all he hid it well under a warm smile.

"It's good to see you up and about Jaune. I'm sure the rest of your team will be glad to hear that you're awake."

Jaune took another drink of water to ease the scratchiness of his voice before replying to the man in front of him.

"Thank you for giving us all a place to stay after the Fall, Mr. Xiao Long. This house must be pretty cramped with six extra people here."

He noticed a minute change in Taiyang's expression but was distracted by Ren making another appearance from the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee which he wordlessly handed to the father. The blonde man uttered a brief thanks as Ren went back to making breakfast before turning back to Jaune. The smile was back but it lacked some of the warmth of the previous expression, betraying the unease in his eyes.

"Please, call me Tai. And finding room wasn't hard, you and Ren had the guest bedroom while your partners bunked with Ruby..."

The way he trailed off slightly before sipping his coffee gave Jaune the impression that there was more to be said.

"What about Weiss and Blake?"

Taiyang's smile dropped fully from his face and he let out a short sigh before a pair of dark blue eyes met a single azure one.

"Weiss' father took her back to Atlas a few days after the Fall and Blake... she disappeared in the Fall and was last seen running into the streets of Vale by one of the students from Haven after making sure that Yang was safe."

While Jaune was taken aback by the revelation, a small part of his brain noted that it was somewhat to be expected. After all, Weiss was the heiress to Remnant's leading Dust supplier and Blake had already shown a tendency to run, if her reaction to her Faunus heritage being discovered was any indication.

"What about Ruby and Yang?"

He drained the last of the coffee and glanced up the stairs for a couple seconds before turning back to the boy in front of him. He clasped his hands in front of him and rested his chin on his thumbs before responding.

"Ruby appears to be fine physically, however she still hasn't woken up yet and it's been almost a week so we think it's hopefully just exhaustion on her part and nothing worse. However, much like you, Yang went up against somebody far stronger than herself and paid a high price for it."

"Her eye?"

"Her arm."

If Jaune had been taken aback by the news about Weiss and Blake, he was stunned to learn about what happened to Yang and Ruby. He was greatly concerned about Ruby's condition as he viewed the young reaper like a younger sister but for Yang to lose an _arm_ , especially given her fighting style. He feared that it may not be a loss that the upbeat brawler could recover from.

Thankfully, the awkward silence between himself and Taiyang was interrupted by the smell of the heaping pile of pancakes that Ren brought out onto the dining room table, along with syrup, bacon, scrambled eggs and a bowl of assorted fruits. Raising one hand with all fingers extended and the other stretched out to block the entrance of the room, he watched the bottom of the stairs with a slight smirk before lowering his fingers one at a time.

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

As the last finger curled into his palm, a pink and orange blur tore through the living room and stopped in front of Ren's outstretched arm. Nora did her best to get around her partner and at the tasty pancakes as he stared down at her in amusement.

"Hey Nora."

She spun around, wide-eyed at the sight of her leader sitting on the couch before her usual grin reappeared as she enveloped him in a massive hug. Jaune supposed she had taken note of his injuries as this hug was only _moderately_ bone-crushing compared to the usual. He sat back down heavily as he attempted to regain the air that had been forcefully squeezed out of him by the bubbly girl while she proceeded to unleash a torrent of words that surpassed Ruby's Semblance.

"JAUNE! You're okay! What happened? Did you fight a sloth? You know you shouldn't fight sloths silly, only Ren can deal with them since he's pretty much a sloth already. But you're awake! Pyrrha's going to be so happy when she hears about it. You need to eat pancakes, they always make me feel better so they're sure to help you..."

As much as he found comfort in listening to the bomber's motor mouth, he tuned her out with practiced ease as the sound of measured footfalls descending the stairs met his ears. He turned his gaze from the orange-haired girl in front of him to see the graceful form of his partner. She looked to be completely recovered from whatever number of Grimm she had to deal with while he was in Beacon Tower, her skin was a flawless as ever as was her dark red hair. She stopped in her tracks with a quiet gasp when she saw his bandaged form seated on the couch as his single eye met her emerald ones...

...filled with absolute guilt and anguish.

* * *

 **I don't really have much to say on this chapter except that any and all flames or salt in the reviews or PMs will be used to make burgers and fries.**

 **I also noticed that a couple lines were unintentionally omitted from last chapter so I went back and fixed that.**

 **If you have any questions or thoughts you want to share, just PM me or leave a review.**

 **Thank you to everybody who followed and/or favorited the story and thank you to UltimateReader123 for reviewing.**

 **See you next chapter!**


	3. Storm

**To the guest review that requested emotional angst this chapter: be careful what you wish for.**

 **Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

Jaune let out a sigh as the sounds of the forest filled his ears. He was seated on a fallen log not far from Taiyang's house, letting the tranquility of the trees around him soothe his mind after he practically stormed out of the building not five minutes ago. As much as he hated to admit it, the source of his growing irritation were the guilty looks he kept receiving from his scarlet-haired partner. She'd avoid making eye contact with him whenever they were in the same room but he'd notice her staring at him with guilt from the corner of his eye. He had tried to get her to open up and talk to him about her feelings but was always met with a fake smile and some an 'I don't know what you're talking about Jaune.' He had stopped needing the crutches two days ago and was barely limping now. Most of his bandages were off with only the one over his eye remaining, Ren had said it could be taken off but Jaune was uneasy about removing the now loose strip of cloth. None of that mattered to Pyrrha, who still treated him like he was bedridden, always suggesting he get more rest if he let out a groan or saying he was pushing himself too far if he stretched wrong. She was smothering him but at the same time doing her best to avoid him whenever she could while still saying she was fine.

 _Did your partner send you up here, Jaune?_

Jaune scowled at the greenery in front of him, he wasn't much better he supposed. He had taken to spending most of his time outside as he found solitude to be the most comforting thing at the moment. As much as he hated to admit it, Cinder's venomous whispers echoed in his head whenever he was near Pyrrha. As for everyone else, Ruby had yet to wake and he had not visited either her room or Yang's since he came to three days ago, unable to muster the courage. Nora was able to cheer him up to a degree with her stories of vivid and crazy dreams although they got old after a while, much to his growing self-recrimination. Ren and Tai were the easiest to be around as they did their best to treat him as normally as possible although he still caught brief flashes of pain in Ren's gaze. As for Qrow... he honestly didn't know what to make of the man who had appeared on their doorstep yesterday. He knew that the red-eyed Huntsman was the one who rescued both himself and Ruby from the ruins of Beacon Tower however the way in which he held himself and the scrutiny his gaze held made Jaune feel like a rabbit before a wolf.

His musings were interrupted by the sound of twigs snapping behind him. He turned his head around to see a small figure in pyjamas staring at him in shock before he was knocked off his seat and all he saw was the forest canopy above him with rose petals falling gently around him. Small arms were wrapped about his torso in a fierce hug as Ruby trembled on his chest, sobs racking her slight form.

"J-Jaune. You're alive! I-I thought you were d-dead."

"But I'm alive, that's what's important Ruby."

The sound of his voice caused her to raise her head as he looked down at the young girl, tear-filled silver eyes meeting his single blue one. She let out a gasp upon seeing the bandage across the other one and before he could stop her she had removed the cloth, revealing the scar that ran down his face and over his left eye that sat white and dead in its socket.

"H-how bad is your eye?"

Jaune figured that sugarcoating the truth would only give Ruby false hope and cause more pain later than the truth now. He sighed slightly before wrapping the reaper in a comforting hug.

"I'll never see out of it again."

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes as she buried her face in his chest and continued to shake.

"It's m-my fault. If I was a bit faster, you wouldn't have n-nearly died! You would be fine and w-wouldn't be half b-blind."

Jaune's stomach twisted in on itself at the guilt that laced her words. He tightened his embrace and sat up, brushing her hair away from her face as he did so. She was always so cheerful and upbeat, the heart and soul of team RWBY. To see her now in such a heartbroken state was like a knife twisting in Jaune's stomach. He was reminded of how his youngest sister would come to him in tears after a nightmare when they were younger so he figured he could comfort her in a similar way.

"Ruby, please look at me."

She raised her head once again, tears streaming down both cheeks as her gazed locked onto his blind eye. He slowly removed his arms from around her before gently grabbing her face in both hands. He used his thumbs to wipe away the tears on her face before making eye contact.

"Ruby, it wasn't your fault. We both made our own decisions that night and the result of my decision was losing an eye. You can't blame yourself for things you had no control over."

"But it is! If I had been there sooner we might've been able to fight her off and yo-."

He quickly shushed the girl before her guilt could overwhelm her.

"Don't blame yourself over outcomes you can't predict. Maybe we would've been able to fight her off but there's an equally good chance that we would both have been injured or even killed. You couldn't have known what was happening that night and I don't blame you for anything so please don't blame yourself, Ruby."

Her tears let up and a small smile began to creep across her face before she suddenly clutched him tightly and fresh sobs began to rack her body once again. Jaune hugged her, somewhat confused by the sudden flood of tears.

"Ru-"

"P-Penny's dead, Beacon's gone, you and Yang are i-injured, Weiss was taken back to Atlas and Blake ran away! Why? Why did everything go so wrong? Why would someone do this? Yang told me that sometimes bad things happen without reason but that would make all of this meaningless and that just h-hurts more."

The blonde boy had no answers for her so he did all he could do and held her closer as she sobbed out all of her grief and sorrow.

* * *

Jaune was seated back on the fallen log, once again lost in thought. Ruby had gone back inside not too long ago, her grief finally running its course and her tears had lessened before halting altogether. Jaune had remained outside, somewhat shaken by the fragility of the young girl but also still unwilling to be near his partner. He figured that it was nearing dinner time and Ren would probably be out soon to let him know it was ready. A polite cough alerted him to the fact that somebody was behind him.

 _Speak of the devil._

Jaune looked behind him, expecting to see the green clad form of his teammate but instead he saw the graceful figure of his partner.

"Hello Jaune, Ren just wanted me to let you know that dinner will be ready within ten minutes. You should come in now, you wouldn't want to catch cold."

A flash of irritation was unsuccessfully suppressed as he noticed that Pyrrha seemed overly interested in the log he was sitting on. He had been putting up with the smothering yet aloof behavior of the spartan for three days and was nearing his limit.

"You okay, Pyrrha?"

"Just fine, Jaune."

The smile that she wore as she still avoided his gaze was fake and her words sounded hollow and practiced. He felt the irritation and frustration that had been building up since he came to finally become too much to bottle up as his voice dropped to nearly a whisper.

"Why won't you look me in the eye, Pyrrha?"

She started slightly, raising her eyes to look past his shoulder rather than at him. She tensed slightly before re-exerting control and returning to a more neutral pose.

"I am looking at you, Jaune."

He scoffed, "Funny, I didn't realize my eye was over my shoulder."

Jaune rose to his feet and stalked over to where his partner was standing. In the back of his mind he knew what he was doing was rash and stupid, brought about by days of bottled up emotions. But the rest of him couldn't care less, he was practically moving on instinct with forethought and self-control out the window. He leaned in so that Pyrrha had little choice but to look at his face. She maintained eye contact with him although more often than not her gaze kept drifting over to his ruined eye. She looked him full in the face for almost eight seconds before turning her head to the side, clearly uncomfortable. Although it wasn't clear whether it was due to their proximity or his scar that she had a grimace on her face.

 _The most likely reason however, is that she wanted to get rid of you._

The sibilant words echoed through his mind again, finding the usual barrier of his reason far more malleable to its poison. He took a step back before glaring at Pyrrha, hands clenching by his sides as he all but spat the words out.

"Why? Why do you do this Pyrrha?"

Her head whipped around, shock and confusion evident in her gaze but barely registering in the dark maelstrom that had started to fill Jaune. Words escaped her mouth, sounding distant and small like they were shouted in the middle of a raging tempest.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"What you've been doing since I woke up! You stare at me guiltily, like my injuries are your fault but you immediately deny anything of the sort if it's mentioned. You act like I'm made of glass and you want the best for me but you do your damnedest to keep your distance from me. You keep saying everything's fine but your body language tells another fucking story Pyrrha."

Her eyes narrowed, glinting like agates against the paleness of her face. Her shoulders tensed, her hands clenched and she instinctively moved into a more combative stance as if she was expecting him to leap at her at any moment.

"Is it so wrong to feel regret over a decision that got my partner injured?"

"Not if you admit that you regret something but you don't! Your eyes are filled with a look of regret but if someone mentions it you hide it like you're ashamed of feeling regretful."

 _Did she think that a death at my hands would be a merciful one compared to being slowly torn apart by a pack of Grimm._

"Why did you send me into Beacon Tower, Pyrrha?"

His partner looked bewildered by the question, stuttering and stumbling through attempts to give a response. Jaune continued on speaking, not even paying the slightest heed to the words coming from the spartan.

"We both knew deep down that Ozpin hadn't won that fight. Why even bother sending me in there under a pretense like that? Someone who could take down our headmaster was clearly more dangerous than any number of minor Grimm, so why send the least skilled fighter to fight someone like that? What reason do you have for that? Huh?"

 _Why would someone as strong and skilled as the great Pyrrha Nikos want to be associated with someone as weak as you?_

"Did you think it would be better to struggle against somebody so much more skilled and powerful rather than an unending swarm of Grimm? Or was it because you were _ashamed_. Ashamed that the partner you _chose_ was so weak and useless!"

He was shouting now, fully consumed by the emotions raging wild and unchecked within him. His Aura was flickering about him, twisted and contorted, at times it seemed like a ray of sunlight and at others like lightning playing about his body. Pyrrha stepped back involuntarily from the display in front of her before her Aura flared into a raging inferno and she marched forward until the embodiments of their souls were nearly touching. Leaves rattled in the branches above and Pyrrha's hair whipped around her like the flame of a candle in a hurricane. If Jaune's anger was like a volcano, explosive and violent then hers was akin to a blizzard, cold and fierce but no less deadly.

"You're wrong! I did it because I was scared. Before us was a multitude of Grimm, behind us was a tower with someone powerful enough to kill Ozpin and all around us were the ruins of our school that were swarming with more Grimm. No matter where I looked, all I could see was death and I saw no way of the two of us making it out of there. I thought we were both going to die and I didn't want you to suffer the pain of watching me die before you were slowly hacked apart by the Grimm. I sent you into the tower because it seemed like the lesser evil of the choices I was given and I only wanted what I thought was best!"

Her voice had gone from fierce and righteous to broken and desperate, as if each word spoken was formed of her very anger. Her Aura had weakened along with her aggressive posture until she was kneeled on the ground, hunched and withdrawn with her hands pressed against her legs. She shook with silent sobs as her hair fell about her face in a crimson veil, obscuring her from Jaune's sight.

 _Drip._

A solitary tear fell from her cheek and splashed against the back of her hand. Before long Pyrrha was weeping into the forest floor, her entire body quaking with each cry that passed her lips. Jaune's Aura, as well as his anger, dissipated like mist against the morning sun at the sight of his partner curled in on herself, looking more vulnerable and helpless than he had ever seen her. His shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh, feeling all the anger and frustration inside of him morph into regret, guilt, disgust and betrayal. The raging maelstrom within him faded and turned into a venom that twisted around his heart like a snake. Jaune staggered slightly, falling to one knee as his conviction left him. He looked across the clearing at the crumpled form of Pyrrha. No longer was she the Invincible Girl, four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament who looked every inch like the victory her name represented. Now, she was merely Pyrrha Nikos, a heartbroken and despairing girl, sobbing into the loam.

"I get where you're coming from Pyrrha, I really do and while it would be agonizing to watch you fall to the Grimm before I died as well, it's much more painful being treated like I can't make decisions about my life."

He knew not what possessed him to say those lines but with each syllable that passed his lips, the snake around his heart tightened its grasp until he felt as if his heart would burst from the intensity of his emotions. If anything, Pyrrha sobbed harder at his words which twisted the knife deeper. His guilt began to consume him like his anger had before and he stood and began to slowly make his way out of the clearing, bile rising in his throat.

"I-I'm s-sorry Jaune. I j-just did what I th-thought was best. I'm sorry."

He halted at the edge of the clearing, head bowed in shame as Pyrrha choked out the fractured words. He closed his eye briefly before heading back to the house as his emotions twisted inside of him once again.

"I am too, Pyrrha. I am too."

* * *

Jaune lay wide awake even though it was nearly dawn. His stomach churned and threatened to reject what little food he had managed to eat for supper. While Ren's cooking was always delicious, tonight it tasted ashen and bitter and he had soon headed upstairs under the pretense of feeling tired. Instead, he merely hid away from everyone else, too ashamed to look Ren or Nora in the eyes after his fight with Pyrrha. Within the chaotic whirlwind of thoughts and self-loathing, one statement kept playing through his mind, over and over again.

 _I'm no hero, I'm just a coward who hurts the people close to me._

* * *

 **Fuck me, this chapter was painful to write.**

 **I honestly have nothing else to say about this chapter, however I would like to thank everyone who favorited and/or followed this story as the support is really helpful.**

 **Don't forget to review or PM me if you have any questions or comments about the story but remember that any and all flames or salt will be used to make burgers and fries.**

 **Next chapter:**

 **A journey begins.**

"Haven's a long way to go."

 **Two, actually.**

"So you've decided to stick around."

 **And an important question is asked.**

" _WHY?_ "

 **See you next chapter.**


	4. Separation

**Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

"Haven's a long way to go."

A gauntleted hand reached over and ruffled Ruby's hair as Pyrrha chuckled slightly.

"I know, Ruby. I'm from Mistral, after all."

Silver eyes roamed over the other three figures standing with her in the snow. Ren and Nora were dressed as the always had at Beacon and the only change to Pyrrha's outfit was a red sweater pulled over her armored torso.

"And the three of you are certain you want to come with me?"

"The journey will be perilous and whether or not we find answers at the end is uncertain."

"But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up for it."

Ruby cracked a smile, relieved at the conviction she heard from Ren and Nora. Beside her, the redheaded spartan let out another chuckle.

"Besides, I think Jaune, Yang and Tai would be upset if we let you run off to Haven on your own."

"Let's get started. To Haven!"

"To Haven!"

Snow whirled lightly around the four teens as they began their trek through the forest surrounding the Xiao Long household and the long journey to Haven, Huntsman Academy of the kingdom of Mistral. As alert as even Ren and Pyrrha were, none of them noticed the solitary gaze trained on them as they made their way into the woods. A single blue eye stared out from a frost glazed window, watching the footprints begin to fill up from the flakes lightly falling from the gray sky.

Jaune grunted slightly as he rose to his feet and stretched his arms above his head before crossing the room and picking up a random book from the bookshelf. He had known about Ruby's plan for a while now, having overheard her talking to his team one night as he headed up the stairs to go to bed. While he had been tempted to try to talk them out of their plan to travel across Remnant in search of answers, he knew that one thing that had been bothering the young reaper was the unknown reason as to why Beacon had been attacked. Jaune laid across his bed, eye scanning the pages in front of him but not really reading the words.

It couldn't have been more than a couple minutes before he heard a clattering sound from down the hall, figuring that Taiyang had most likely found a note that Ruby had left for him. He made his way out into the hallway and was nearly bowled over by Taiyang sprinting out from Ruby's room and down the stairs, calling for his daughter's name the entire time. He peeked his head into the room where Ruby, Nora and Pyrrha had stayed, spotting the note from Ruby easily as the red crayon used stood out like a sore thumb. Next to it was a sealed envelope with his name written across the front in green pen and graceful handwriting that clearly belonged to Ren. Picking up the envelope, he returned to his room and sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard. He tore the top of the envelope open before pulling out and unfolding the piece of paper contained within. A tattered and much worn paper fluttered onto his lap from where it had been held in place by the letter. Flipping it over, his eyes widened as he easily recognized the photo that it displayed.

 _I thought this was lost at Beacon, how did Ren get a hold of it?_

He set the picture aside and turned his attention to the letter written in the same flowing cursive as the front of the envelope.

 _Jaune,_

 _As you may or may not have already known, Ruby received a tip that said that those who may have been responsible for the Fall of Beacon had masqueraded at the school during the second term as students of Haven Academy. She's decided to journey there in search of answers and Pyrrha, Nora and I have made the choice to accompany her. I know this probably feels like we are abandoning you Jaune, but the three of us feel that we could do more good by aiding Ruby in her quest, especially since we couldn't dissuade her, compared to staying with Taiyang for an indeterminate amount of time._

 _I'm sure you're wondering about the photo that is enclosed along with this letter and how I got a hold of it. Long story short, you ended up leaving it on your bed in the dorm after you rushed out to make it to Amity Colosseum for Pyrrha's match. I'm not sure why I did but I pocketed the picture, planning to give it back to you after we returned to our room that evening. I ended up forgetting it was in my pocket during the chaos of the Fall and only rediscovered it a couple days ago. I hope that it can provide happy memories for you while we're gone._

 _As much as I would love to write more for this letter, Pyrrha's over one shoulder reminding me that we need to finish packing for the morning and Nora's over the other saying that I've made this long enough. Jaune, I hope that you can regain the conviction and determination you had during our time at Beacon and can rejoin us somewhere down the road. I'll do my best to stay in touch and send letters whenever I can._

 _With love,_

 _Ren, Nora and Pyrrha._

 _P.S. Nora left you a present on the back of the letter._

Turning the letter over, Jaune couldn't help but chuckle at the extremely detailed and extremely pink doodle of teams RWBY and JNPR beating up some poor, defenseless Grimm. He folded the letter up and placed it back in the envelope before picking the photo up and looked at it fondly, reminiscing of when it was taken not quite three years ago. His eldest sister, Maple, had just graduated from Haven and they had thrown a party to celebrate that fact in their hometown. Both of his parents were Hunters and the majority of their bedtime stories were kid-friendly accounts of their travels. It had only been natural that they had all wanted to be Hunters when they grew up, regardless of talent or training. The picture featured a scene that had become more difficult and complex as time went on: managing to fit ten Arcs into a single photo. The photo was one of the few things Jaune had taken with him when he left home to attend Beacon and it had served as a means to alleviate any homesickness he had while in Vale.

"Hey."

A soft voice from the door caused him to look up from the photo. Blue met lilac as the two blondes made eye contact across the room and Jaune was reminded of their first conversation after the Fall.

"Oh, hey Yang."

* * *

 _"Knock, knock."_

 _Jaune stood patiently outside Yang's door, a tray of food held in his arms as he waited for a response from the other side of the door. He had offered to bring Yang her supper mainly because he was still uncomfortable around Pyrrha after their fight the day before. He knew he was acting like he did back when Cardin was blackmailing him but he found that he couldn't bring himself to care all that much about it._

 _"Come in, the door's unlocked."_

 _He pushed the door open with his shoulder before straightening out and making his way across the room to the bed where Yang was seated with her back to the door. She either hadn't heard the door open or didn't care enough to turn around from gazing out the window at the forest surrounding the house. He slowly lowered the tray onto the bed, mindful of the fact that his depth perception had worsened. He pushed the tray towards the center of the bed before making his way around the bed and taking a seat on the end. He must have caught her peripheral vision as she turned her head towards him, lilac eyes widening in shock momentarily at the sight of his blind eye._

 _"Jaune?"_

 _He paused his action of grabbing one of the pieces of bread from the tray and made eye contact with Yang. He nodded in affirmation before picking up the bread and taking a bite. Her eyes narrowed slightly, frowning at her fellow blonde who appeared to be indulging himself in her meal._

 _"What happened to you, and why are you eating_ my _supper?"_

 _Jaune swallowed and motioned towards the tray sitting on the bed between them, two bowls of soup and several slices of bread resting on it along with a couple glasses of water._

 _"Brought mine up as well. As for your other question, I lost my eye in the Fall."_

 _Yang rolled her eyes, grabbing a slice of bread herself before gesturing at Jaune._

 _"I could have guessed that part, Vomit-Boy. But what happened exactly."_

 _He looked out the window silently for several seconds, before sighing briefly and turning back to the girl next to him._

 _"I fought someone a lot stronger than me and this was the price I paid."_

 _She grimaced slightly, clearly making the comparison between their situations. An awkward silence filled the room as both blondes focused on eating their food, Yang struggling slightly with her soup. Jaune noticed her fumbling with the spoon, soup wasn't exactly an easy food to eat with one hand especially if it was your non-dominant hand. He reached over and lightly touched her wrist, causing her to pause her actions and give him a questioning look. He moved his hand from her wrist and instead used it to grip the side of the bowl, steadying it so that it was easier for the brawler to eat. Yang accepted the proffered olive branch and began to scoop the contents of the bowl into her mouth._

 _"Thank you."_

 _The words were so quietly spoken that Jaune wasn't sure if he had imagined them or not. He tilted his head slightly in confusion, noting the lilac eyes that were staring at him._

 _"Thank you."_

 _This time, he knew that Yang had definitely thanked him. Jaune blinked a couple times before shaking his head, a small smile forming on his face._

 _"You don't need to thank me for this, Yang. I'm just doing what anybody would do."_

 _She shook her head in a more forceful manner, long hair flowing behind her with the motion._

 _"It's not... It's not for this, although thank you for holding the bowl still. It's for..."_

 _She paused, looking away for a couple seconds before meeting his gaze once again. Her cheeks flushed slightly, although Jaune wasn't sure as to the reason why._

 _"It's for yesterday, you comforted Ruby when I couldn't. Thank you for that, Jaune."_

 _"You don't need to thank me for that, Yang. Ruby's like my little sister, I'd do anything for her."_

* * *

"So you've decided to stick around, Jaune."

Yang's words roused Jaune from his musings, although even more so than that it was her tone that caught his attention. It was almost... accusatory. He blinked a couple times in confusion before giving her his usual grin.

"Well I mean of course, why wouldn't I?"

"Why?"

The word was practically hissed out from between Yang's lips as she stalked across the room towards him, hair flickering and eyes appearing to have a hint of red in them. Jaune was confused, apparently his answer was the wrong one in Yang's book although he wasn't sure why. He needed to diffuse this situation before he got his ass kicked by Yang, one arm gone or not she still had him beat in combat ability.

"What do you mean, Ya-"

" _WHY?_ "

She grabbed the front of his shirt, all but shouting the word into his face. Her hair flared into an inferno and her eyes became blood red. As quickly as her anger had risen, it then died down, her hair losing its spark and her eyes returning to their usual shade of lilac. A sob forced its way past her lips as her chest shook with others that were contained. She bowed her head, partially obscuring her face behind her golden hair but not so much that Jaune couldn't see the tears streaking down her face.

"Why would you stick around with me after everyone else had left me behind? Weiss was taken by her father, Blake _ran away_ , Ruby and your team are on a fool's errand to Haven but you don't owe me anything so why would you stay?"

Jaune's gut twisted. Yang, much like Ruby, had been so emotionally strong and upbeat during their time at Beacon that seeing her break down like this was a bit of a shock. He gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, resting her head in the crook of his neck. He gently stroked her back, ignoring the damp feeling spreading across his shirt.

"Because I know how it feels to be alone, Yang. I know how much it hurts to feel like everyone close to you are far away or that they've abandoned you. I know that feeling and I don't want anyone else to have to feel that."

"What do you mean, Jaune?"

By this point, Yang's tears had subsided and she had shifted slightly so that her head was resting on his chest. Had this type of position happened sometime at Beacon, Jaune would've been ecstatic but now, thoughts like that were the last thing on his mind. One of his hands now simply rested on her hip and the other continued to stroke her hair, which was odd that he was allowed to do so given how protective Yang was of her hair.

"I grew up in a family with a long history of being Huntsmen and Huntresses, my sisters and I were raised with stories of my parents time in their respective Academies as bedtime stories so it was only natural that we all wanted to be like them when we grew up."

He paused momentarily, lost in memories of a happier time before he shook his head slightly and continued talking.

"Unlike my siblings however, I didn't have the same level of natural talent that they all did starting out so I didn't receive much training or even get my Aura unlocked. I ended up going to a normal school while my sisters all went to combat school. Whereas they spent the summers designing, building and training with their weapons, I did odd jobs around my village and eventually got a part-time job. But I never lost the dream of becoming a Huntsman like my parents."

More memories surfaced, these ones far more bitter and melancholy than previously. Jaune let out a long sigh of regret before returning to his story.

"No one could call how I got into Beacon moral, or hell, even legal. I had plenty of Lien saved up from my jobs around the village so I paid for a set of forged transcripts from a combat school in Vacuo. I used those to lie my way into Beacon and I got my letter of acceptance a couple months before the term started. A week after that, I took the rest of my money, left a note on the kitchen counter, took Crocea Mors from where it rested on the wall as well as my dad's old armor and fled into the night like a thief."

His voice grew more and more choked as he went on and tears had started dripping down his cheeks. By this point, he had stopped moving his hands at all and just clutched Yang close to him, as if she was the only tangible thing he had. Yang noticed the change in Jaune's voice and wrapped her arm around his torso in an attempt to give him the same level of comfort he had given her. A couple minutes passed by before Jaune continued speaking in a low voice, barely louder than a whisper.

"Those weeks I spent between leaving home and arriving at Beacon were some of the loneliest and most painful weeks of my life. I had just abandoned the only home I knew and the only people I was close to. I was travelling to an entirely different continent where I knew nothing and there was a good chance I would get to stay at Beacon or even die there. I felt so alone, I had no one to talk to and nobody to spend time with. After growing up with seven sisters, the silence was almost terrifying and I never want anyone to feel as alone as I did back then."

He laughed, not his usual laugh filled with joy and happiness but the type of hollow laugh a criminal might make before being hung from the gallows. A wry, twisted grin spread across his face before he settled back down into a more somber silence.

"God, my family probably thinks I'm dead. Beacon was the only Academy that I could've logically run off to and the last thing the other kingdoms heard of Beacon and Vale was that they were being attacked by Atlas. Now that the CCT is destroyed, I can't even contact them to let them know I'm okay. I put them through so much pain and worry and for what? For me to break my great-grandfather's sword and to lose an eye not a year into my training. I'm a terrible person for what I've done to my family."

Jaune felt the arm around him tighten until it was almost painful. Looking down, he saw that Yang's eyes had gone back to being red as she glared up at him in annoyance.

"You aren't a terrible person Jaune. If you were, you wouldn't have been so friendly at Beacon, you wouldn't have been so selfless and you would've ran away from home without any form of remorse or regret. The fact that you regret running away proves that you aren't a terrible person and I will kick your ass if you say that again."

He let out another laugh, this one closer to his usual self.

"Thanks Yang, I needed that."

"Anytime, Vomit-Boy."

* * *

 **And the feels train keeps going. Maybe it'll stop next chapter or maybe it won't, nobody knows. (Except me)**

 **On a somewhat related note to the chapter, I hope that Volume 5 will have some legitimate Jaune backstory because he's pretty much the only main character we don't have some level of concrete backstory for.**

 **As always, please leave a review or PM me if you have any questions or thoughts to share.**

 **Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or followed and thank you to Fayari for reviewing.**

 **Next chapter:**

 **Physical limitations take a while to get used to.**

 _CRASH!_

"Damn!"

 **A delivery arrives.**

"These ones are for the two of you."

 **And solace is found.**

"Well, one time we..."

 **See you next chapter.**


	5. Memory

**Going to respond to a couple reviews:**

 **Guest: True, that line does exist however it always struck me more as a self-deprecating joke rather than the truth.**

 **ZenithTempest: In regards to his team leaving him, I went back and touched up Ren's letter from the previous chapter and updated that today. As for everything else in the review, I guess we just have differing opinions. Tbh, I never really considered having Jaune travel with Ruby in the story since then it would be a Vol. 4 rewrite with an alive Pyrrha and a half-blind, maybe different weapon Jaune and that didn't hold any interest for me.**

 **And thank you to Ninisty, Siegfried Salazar, darky33916 and GeneralAllenWalker for the supporting reviews.**

 **Di** **sclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

Flames crackled and danced around Jaune, throwing shadows both mysterious and menacing on the sides of the crumbled masonry that he found himself in. Stars shone coldly above him, looking down on the horrors around the boy with cold detachment. Far more dangerous than mere shadows on the wall were the shadows that lived. Grimm surged through the gaps in the ruins around him, some focusing on him and others targeting various familiar humanoid shadows that he could barely make out through the smoke and fire. No more time was given to his observations as a Beowolf leapt at him and he instinctively swung his hand defensively. A gleam of steel carved through the throat of the lupine form and smoothly detached its head from its shoulders. Jaune looked at his hands in shock as he held Crocea Mors, undamaged. He blinked both of his eyes in shock as realization struck him, somehow, he had regained both his sight and his weapon. He suppressed the urge to shout in joy at these recent developments as more and more black and white forms charged towards him. Jaune fought, parried, slashed, killed, blocked, and dodged until he was far past the point of keeping time. He could have been fighting the Grimm for hours, days, even weeks or perhaps it was just a few desperate minutes that he struggled for his life.

A distant explosion caught the corner of his eye and it seemed as if the number of Grimm attacking him had increased slightly. A second explosion rang out, this time a bit closer to him and once again, the only result he noticed was the influx of more enemies. Two more erupted in quick succession and at this rate, Jaune would be overwhelmed by the Grimm long before whatever caused these explosions would've reached his position. Jaune's blood ran cold when the fifth one appeared directly under one of the few silhouettes he could discern and when the flames had subsided, nothing was left to even show that they had existed except for the Grimm who had been trying to kill them. He could focus no more on the explosions as he was suddenly hard pressed to survive the waves of beasts doing their level best to rend him limb from limb. As he fought, the few remaining survivors near him disappeared one after another with the only things marking their passing being an eruption of flame and more Grimm to fight. Eventually, Jaune was alone against an innumerable tide of Grimm. Beowolves, Ursai, Creeps and Boarbatusks were plentiful around him and the occasional Death Stalker or King Taijitu were visible as well. The skies were no emptier than the ground as flocks of Nevermore and Griffons soared and wheeled above him like buzzards. Jaune was exhausted, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. His shield was so heavy that he could barely hold it in front of him and his swords strokes had become weak and sloppy.

A curtain of flame burst from the ground ahead of him and soared over fifteen feet above him before expanding in a circular motion and surrounding him. No longer trapped by fallen stones and living Grimm but by what was essentially the eye of a flaming hurricane. A new silhouette appeared behind the fire in front of him. It was humanoid and female, if the hair and curves were anything to go by. Unlike the shadows from earlier which had given him a sense of hope, this one seemed malicious and filled him with a dread that surpassed even the Grimm. Perhaps it was the confidence in which she walked among the carnage and destruction, perhaps it was the fact that she only appeared after he was trapped by a flame similar to that which wiped out the other fighters, or perhaps it was her eyes that were bright yellow and glowing. No normal person should be capable of having eyes like these. The wall of fire in front of him twisted and bulged as the shadow behind it grew darker and more defined.

Cinder emerged through the flames, which seemed to cling to her in an almost loving fashion, a haughty expression on her face. Jaune felt bile rising in his throat, a dark realization settling over him as it became clear just who was responsible for the missing fighters. Her imperious expression twisted into an arrogant smirk and she laughed, chills shooting down Jaune's spine despite the hellish inferno raging around him. She tilted her head, amusement filling her eyes as she regarded the exhausted and battered boy in front of her.

"Jaune, I do hope you'll prove to be a more engaging opponent then your friends were. They were so focused on the Grimm in front of them that they never noticed the flames closing in until it was to late."

Dread was replaced by rage and Jaune charged forwards, exhaustion forgotten. He managed no more than a couple of steps before being yanked backwards. A tendril of fire had coiled around his shield and ripped it from his arm, despite it being insubstantial. The blonde boy pressed forwards nonetheless as a black blade formed in Cinder's hand. Their blades clashed again and again, a dance of deadly steel and glass. If Jaune had been more level headed, he would have noticed the web of cracks expanding across his sword every time it met Cinder's despite it being steel and her's glass. She never attacked, letting the enraged Arc wear himself out against her iron defense. A massive two-handed cleave proved too much for the weakening blade and Jaune paused in shock as the blade of Crocea Mors disintegrated, a silvery cascade of steel falling between them. Cinder's blade flickered darkly in the firelight as it darted forwards before returning to her side, blood dripping down the length. Jaune stumbled back, one hand pressed over his ruined eye while the other clenched the hilt of Crocea Mors.

"Pity, I had hoped that you would actually put up some sort of fight but you were as disappointing as the others. Don't worry Jaune, you'll be seeing your friends very soon."

Jaune had no time to react before a pillar of flame erupted from beneath his feet, engulfing him entirely and burning away whatever shreds of his Aura remained. Jaune screamed in absolute agony as he burned, skin blackening and hair turning to ash. He had never felt such excruciating pain and as he sucked in another breath...

With a gasp, his eyes flew open and he bolted upright, sheets falling around his waist. Jaune let out a long sigh, one hand over his blind eye and the other on his chest as if it could slow his racing heart. He fell back onto the pillow, chest rising and falling rapidly.

"It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream."

He repeated this mantra over and over until his heart had slowed down to a normal rate. Jaune noted how parched his throat felt, whether a holdover from the nightmare or what, he didn't know. He made his way downstairs into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. Filling it with ice-cold water, he unlocked the side door and stepped out onto the porch. He stared upwards at the night sky above him as he slowly sipped his water. Ever since he was young, he found comfort in the vast expanse of stars that shone in the sky at night. Jaune felt his muscles lose their tension as he finished off the last of his water and he gave a small sigh before heading inside, locking the door behind him. He headed back into the kitchen but as he went to set his empty glass on the counter, he misjudged the distance and it ended up tumbling off the edge of the counter and onto the floor.

 _CRASH!_

"Damn!"

Scowling, he stalked off to the hall closet and retrieved the broom and dustpan. In the past few months, he had grown fairly used to his more limited range of vision however his altered depth perception was still getting difficult to adapt to. At a distance he was fine but things got trickier when it was within arm's reach. He swept up the broken glass in quick, angry movements. While it wasn't the first time he had broken something due to his lack of depth perception, it was infrequent enough to be frustrating every time it happened. He headed back upstairs after cleaning up the mess and fell into bed, asleep soon after his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Jaune yawned as he slumped further into the sofa, half-heartedly listening to the TV in front of him. He hadn't gotten much rest the night before and had spent the morning doing work around the house with Yang. His exhaustion didn't go unnoticed by the blonde on the couch next to him and she gave him a concerned look.

"You okay, Jaune?"

He grunted, "Nightmare, don't particularly want to talk about it."

Yang gave an understanding nod and turned back to the news playing from the projected screen in front of them, switching channels every so often.

 _"...with no end in sight. Try as they might, the local Huntsmen and Huntresses can't seem to get a hold of the situation at Beacon Academy."_

Click.

 _"...though the fail safes have supported wireless communication within the kingdom, the loss of the CCT Tower continues to prevent contact with the outside world. Talks with Atlas officials regarding repairs have so far—"_

Click.

 _"...Vale council voted this week to continue to ban any air traffic that does not have a direct correlation with evacuation. The council has made it clear that they feel—"_

Click.

 _"Multiple rumors continue to circulate as to who was behind the attacks at the Vytal Festival Tournament. While no one knows for sure, officials have confirmed that high-ranking White Fang member, Adam Taurus…"_

Jaune noticed Yang had tensed up on the couch next to him as the photo of a young man with black and red hair, horns and a mask across his eyes stylized like a Grimm appeared on the screen.

 _"...was present for the attack. Any and all attempts to bring him into custody have been met with brutal force—"_

Click. The screen wavered and grew grainy before disappearing entirely as Yang let out a long sigh and all the tension drained from her body. The front door opened behind them, signaling the return of Taiyang.

"I'm home."

Yang tilted her head backwards whereas Jaune simply looked over his shoulder to see Tai make his way into the house with several boxes piled high in his arms.

"Hey Dad."

"Hey Tai."

The elder Xiao Long shut the door behind him with one foot before making his way across the living room and into the kitchen, calling back over his shoulder as he went.

"Guess what came in today!"

The two blondes on the couch looked at each other and shrugged, identical expressions of confusion on their faces. Yang was the first one to break the silence as she gave her dad a questioning look.

"What came in today?"

"I can't wait for you two to see these. I've been waiting for a few deliveries for a while and these ones are for the two of you."

Curiosities not sated all that much by the older blonde's cryptic response, they resigned themselves to waiting for him to show them whatever it was that they had received. They didn't have to wait long as he quickly returned to the living room with a pair of boxes in his arms, setting one in front of each of them. The one in front of Yang was quite a bit longer than it was wide whereas Jaune's was nearly square. The one feature that both boxes shared however was that they were pure white with the symbol of Atlas on the top in black. Yang cracked open her box to reveal a monochromatic robotic arm nestled within. Jaune's box contained Crocea Mors or rather, once Jaune looked closer, a very similar replica to Crocea Mors. Jaune felt conflicted over the contents of the container, on one hand it was like he had never lost his weapon but he knew that this blade and shield were not the same ones that had traveled with him to Beacon. He knew that three quarters of the actual Crocea Mors lay somewhere in the ruins of Beacon Tower while the hilt was sitting on his bedside table upstairs. He lifted his gaze to gauge the reactions of the other occupants of the room.

Taiyang appeared to be quite excited, a large grin remaining on his face as he looked at the two of them. Yang looked... unnerved, eyes widening briefly before returning to normal. Tai stood up, gesturing with his arms to the contents of the boxes as he did so.

"Brand new, state of the art Atlas tech, both of them. I thought I would've had to pull some strings and call in a few favors to get these but you guys earned them all on your own."

Jaune and Yang both looked up at the elder Xiao Long, confusion and curiosity writ on both of their faces.

"Before I could even talk to him, General Ironwood already had some of his top scientists and armorers working on these, for you two. He wanted me to tell you that you guys fought admirably, that you guys should be proud of yourselves."

Jaune grimaced, no matter how congratulatory or supportive those words were meant to be, all he could think of was that terrible night. He hadn't fought admirably, he had been majorly outclassed by Cinder and it was a miracle that he hadn't died. He could hear Yang and Tai discussing her gift in the background.

"Well? You going to try it on?"

"I'm... not feeling the greatest right now, maybe later?"

He could tell that Tai's smile had faltered a bit as he felt both Yang and her father turn their gazes on him.

"Jaune? What do you think of your new weapon?"

"It's great and all but if I'm being completely honest, I would rather it look less like Crocea Mors."

Looking up, he could see that both Yang and Taiyang had identical expressions of confusion on their faces. He couldn't really blame them; his statement was a bit odd so he continued to elaborate.

"Crocea Mors... was a part of many great feats. My great-great-grandfather wielded it in the Great War where he and the weapon earned the name 'Yellow Death'. It was a symbol of our family for generations and synonymous with the name Arc. Now it lies broken and lost in the ruins of Beacon and to me, wielding a weapon that looks identical to it seems disrespectful. If I was ever to fight again, I would want to do so with a weapon of my own design."

Jaune let out a long sigh, not expecting the amount of emotion that crept into his words near the end. Contrary to what he was expecting, Taiyang had a proud look on his face.

"That's perfectly fine Jaune, do you want to keep it or what?"

"Keep it, no matter how it looks it's still a gift and it would be rude to refuse it."

Jaune yawned as he stood to his feet and stretched. He made his way towards the stairs, calling over his shoulder as he went.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to relax for a couple hours."

* * *

"What'cha got there, Jaune?"

Jaune looked up from his reminiscing to see Yang leaning in the doorway to his room. He gave her a smile and patted the bed next to him, an unspoken invitation hanging in the air. She flopped down next to him, the entire bed flexing slightly. She gestured to the piece of paper in his hand.

"I repeat, what'cha got there?"

"Family group picture."

Jaune turned the photo over, revealing the figures on it to the brawler next to him. Her eyes widened at the sheer number of figures in the picture.

"How big is your family?"

He chuckled, not at all surprised by Yang's reaction.

"Me, my parents and seven sisters."

Yang rested her head in her hand, groaning lightly as she did so.

"Jeez, and I thought Ruby was a handful to deal with at times. Seven must have been nightmarish. How did you deal with that?"

"It wasn't all that bad. I was the middle child and we all looked out for each other so it wasn't too crazy unless we all got into a big argument. Then it was absolute chaos."

She narrowed her eyes, giving the photo a look of intense scrutiny.

"You look... smaller in this photo than you do now."

"It was taken a few years ago when my oldest sister, Maple, became a full-fledged Huntress. That's her right there. She may not look like it right now but she can be terrifying if you piss her off."

He pointed to a smiling woman in the center of the picture with auburn hair and a dash of freckles across the bridge of her nose. A large glaive was visible over one shoulder as she ruffled the hair of a young girl in front of her. Jaune proceeded to point out each and every one of his sisters.

"Alva. She's really quiet and prefers to keep to herself but she's the best if you want advice for something." The tallest girl with extremely pale hair and what appeared to be daggers on one hip.

"Robin. She's a trickster and will do anything to make you smile if you seem sad." A mischievous looking pale skinned girl with blue hair and a pouch on one hip.

"My twin sister Marigold. She's just as socially awkward as I am and she will kick your ass if you call her a nickname." A blonde girl who looked exactly like Jaune with the hilt of a sword poking over her shoulder.

"Sable. Super serious and extremely formal until you get to know her." A solemn looking girl with ebony hair and swords on her hips.

"Aurora. She's a cocky, irreverent brat but she's still family." A short-haired girl with her hair dyed several colors and a cocky grin.

"Clover. She's really similar to Ruby personality wise and is just as clumsy." A petite girl with emerald hair and a large smile.

"My mom, Jade. She graduated from Shade." A short woman with pale green hair and a large smile.

"My dad, Hunter. He graduated from Haven." A tall man who looked like a carbon copy of Jaune.

Yang smiled, the fondness in Jaune's voice was apparent as he went over each and every one of his family members. An idea popped into her head and she gave the boy next to her a conspiratorial smile.

"So Jaune, I take it you have lots of stories about your siblings?"

He nodded, gesturing to the photo as he did so.

"Plenty."

"Could you tell me some?"

"Well, one time we..."

* * *

 **Yay, less angst this chapter.**

 **I really have nothing else to talk about this chapter so I'll keep it short.**

 **As always, please leave a review or PM me if you have any questions or thoughts to share.**

 **Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or followed.**

 **Next chapter:**

 **Jaune meets a new face.**

"Scoot over lad, there's room enough for the both of us."

 **Advice is given.**

"Fear is something that makes us human. It's how you deal with it that's important."

 **And an important step is taken.**

"Could you help me?"

 **See you next chapter.**


	6. Decision

**Apologies for the lack of update last week, ended up feeling sick as hell for a couple days and only had the chapter about half done when Friday rolled around. However this is an extra long chapter, so I hope it makes up for it.**

 **Thank you to** **Siegfried Salazar, darky33916 and GeneralAllenWalker for the reviews.**

 **Di** **sclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

The sunlight was nice and warm against Jaune's skin although there was a brisk wind blowing as well. It was an interesting contrast that the blonde boy's thoughts kept returning to for no particular reason. He was seated on a park bench in the center of the town of Patch, enjoying the weather and some lunch after running some errands for Taiyang. There were plenty of people around but the park was by no means crowded with families, people walking their dogs or simply enjoying the weather like him. It reminded him a lot of his hometown however there was something different. It took Jaune a couple of seconds to pin down what exactly the difference was but like a frustrating riddle, the answer was very apparent once he figured it out. Patch had the same warm, friendly atmosphere that small towns seemed to have but it seemed more _forced_. People would wave and greet each other in passing, however their shoulders were tense and their eyes guarded. Children were playing together in the park but they were far closer to their parents than normal, who kept a closer eye on them as well. It was clear that the town was doing their best to push forward and move past the Fall but it wasn't so easy to forget that such a massive tragedy had happened only half a year ago.

A brusque cough startled Jaune from his musings and he snapped his head up and to the right. A tall, burly man with piercing grey eyes and coal black hair turning grey at the temples was standing next to his bench. He wore normal everyday clothes but had a burn-spotted leather apron over the front of them. His hands were calloused and stained with black dust and he had a short jet-black beard.

"Scoot over lad, there's room enough for the both o' us."

The man's voice was deep and his tone, while friendly, was one that brooked no arguments. Jaune found himself sliding over to one side of the bench almost involuntarily to let the man sit down next to him. He pulled a wrapped sandwich out of his pocket and took a few bites before pausing and giving Jaune a sidelong glance.

"Yer a Huntsman in training, aren't ya lad?"

"I...was, before the Fall. Not anymore though. I'm Jaune Arc, by the way."

"Aegil Eisen, forgemaster o' Signal."

Jaune shook the hand that Aegil offered him. As one would expect from a smith, he was incredibly strong, maybe even more so than Nora. He received a questioning glance from the man next to him after the handshake had ended.

"Ye said yer no longer a Huntsman in training?"

Jaune shook his head in affirmation. "Not since Beacon fell."

Aegil pursed his lips in thought before fixing Jaune's single blue eye with a sharp look.

"There's more to it than the fact that Beacon's gone, isn't there. Plenty o' students from Beacon have gone to one o' the other Academies to continue training. And it's not just yer missing eye either. Lots o' Huntsmen and Huntresses have adapted after they lost an eye or worse and kept fighting the Grimm."

"My weapon was destroyed in the Fall as well. I can't really do anything without one, can I?"

The forgemaster let out a disgruntled sigh at the bitter tone used by the blonde.

"That is a problem, lad. But it raises questions about yer weapon since Huntsman weapons aren't meant to break. Their forged with the durability to stand up to daily use for years if not decades so long as they are maintained properly. Ye either had a shit weapon or ye had an antique. Either o' those was a foolish choice for a Huntsman in training, the first more so than the second."

"It was an old family heirloom that my great-great-grandfather used. It was really old but I thought it would still work perfectly fine."

Aegil snapped his fingers in understanding at Jaune's words. "Ye mean the Crocea Mors, don't ye."

Jaune looked up in shock. As far as he knew, his great-grandfather's weapon wasn't that famous although it was storied.

"You know about it?"

He received a derisive snort. "Course I do. No smith worth their hammer hasn't heard o' the Crocea Mors. It was an impressive feat o' smithing given the techniques used at the time of its forging. It's no wonder it broke since smithing techniques have improved greatly in the century since it was forged. It's a shame that a weapon like that was broken but I suppose it was bound to happen."

There was a long pause after that as Aegil gave Jaune a speculative stare.

"Now then, lad. I got an offer for ye: Ye seem like a good sort who has potential. I don't have much to do for a month or so until classes begin at Signal and I have plenty o' metal at me forge. If ye want to continue as a Huntsman, ye'll need a weapon and I'm the only smith on Patch. If ye bring me schematics for a weapon of yer choice, I'll forge it for ye. Any armor ye want as well. With yer help, mind ye."

Jaune gave the smith a wary look. "I know that Huntsman weapons don't come cheap and I don't feel that you would do this for just anyone. You have another reason for doing this, don't you."

Contrary to his expectations, Aegil just chuckled and gave Jaune a good-natured slap on the back. Then his face grew serious.

"Yer right, I do have another reason. Look in front of ye, ye can see it as well as I can. People are scared, lad. Patch, Vacuo, Mistral and even Atlas are all afraid even if they don't show it on the surface. Vale, one of the mighty Kingdoms that had stood for centuries was overrun in a single night and one of the vaunted Huntsman Academies fell as well. They're scared that they will be next, that the times of the kingdoms are running short. They'll look to Huntsman and Huntresses as a symbol of hope and of humanity's strength. Right now, we need every Huntsman we can get, even if they're missing an eye and some training. Now then, I'm not asking ye to make the decision right now. If ye do decide to design yer weapon, ye can find me at Signal."

With that, Aegil got up and walked away into the streets of Patch, leaving Jaune to ponder his words.

* * *

The sound of laughter was what woke Jaune up that night. While it wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him to wake up after hearing laughter, this time was different. Normally he woke up with the haunting echoes of Cinder's cruel laugh still resonating within his mind. This laughter was more... human, for lack of a better word, and far louder as well. He stood up and quickly pulled on a shirt before padding out into the hallway barefoot. He ran into Yang at the top of the stairs and they exchanged equally confused looks.

"What's going on?" Her mouth formed words although no sound passed her lips.

"No idea." Jaune replied in an equally audible tone.

They descended the staircase as noiselessly as possible, the laughter dying down as they got closer to the bottom only to have it replaced by conversation.

"And, and then, in walks Qrow, wearing a skirt! I was just a TA at the time and I didn't know what to do, so I just... just left the room to laugh!"

Taiyang was leaning up against the kitchen counter, nearly doubled over in laughter. Seated around the table were the green-haired Doctor Oobleck and the rotund Professor Port, who was in the middle of recounting an embarrassing story about Yang's Uncle. Tai picked up the recounting of the story, mirth clearly evident in his voice as he did so.

"We told him it was a kilt! He'd never worn a uniform before so he didn't know!"

Oobleck let out another chuckle, gesturing at Taiyang with his mug as he did so.

"That is terrible! What is wrong with you?"

The blonde man raised his arm defensively, still laughing.

"Hey! The girls all said he had nice legs. I did that jerk a favor! Besides, that's not even the best part! See, then we-"

A loud 'thump' cut Tai off as Port lifted one leg onto the kitchen table, gesturing with his hands dramatically as he did so.

"Like what you see?"

All three men doubled over in laughter at the display, which ended up causing Port to lose his balance in a dramatic fashion. Neither Jaune nor Yang were able to contain their laughter after that display. He let out a low chuckle whereas she attempted to muffled a giggle in the palm of her hand. As quiet as it was, their laughter still alerted the three adults in the room to their presence which caused Oobleck and Port to get to their feet. Their Grimm Studies professor was the first to break the silence.

"Oh, uh, Mister Arc, Miss Xiao Long! Please, join us."

Their History teacher chimed in as well. "Yes, yes. Pull up a chair. Please, pull up a chair."

Jaune did just that, pulling up a chair at the table with the two professors from Beacon while Yang made her way past them and hopped up to sit on the counter next to her dad. Jaune was the first to break the silence.

"So, what are you doing here?"

Oobleck gave a small smile and readjusted his glasses. "Well, Mister Arc, contrary to the beliefs of many students, we teachers do have a life outside of the classroom."

"Indeed, Professor Goodwitch has been working non-stop to restore Beacon to it's former glory while myself and Bart clear the place of Grimm. But Mistral was not built in a day and we all need to relax every now and again."

Taiyang did his best to regain control of the conversation as it drifted into more somber topics.

"Look, let's not worry about that right now. So, there we were, in the auditorium looking at Qrow wearing a skirt. Then Oz tells everyone: "It's time to work on our landing strategy."

That set off another set of laughs around the room as Oobleck gave Port a conspiratorial wink.

"Ah, well, the Branwen twins have always been... interesting to say the least."

"That didn't seem to stop young Tai, though."

 _Twins._ The word immediately grabbed Jaune's attention. He knew little about the taciturn Qrow so the knowledge that he had a twin was interesting to say the least. He was pulled from his thoughts by what appeared to be a shouting match between Yang and her father.

"-only use them when we mean it!"

Looking around, Jaune noted that Port and Oobleck appeared to be somewhat uncomfortable by the family squabble in front of them. Jaune would've felt the same awkwardness if such arguments weren't such a common occurrence at his house. With eight siblings with quite different personalities, fights were bound to occur over anything and everything.

"Is that so?"

"As a matter of fact, it is so! If you honestly think that you're ready to go out there on your own, ha, well I guess you lost some brain cells along with that arm."

Taiyang's callousness shocked everyone in the room as Yang recoiled from her father, Port leaned forwards and Oobleck dropped his mug safely on the table. Jaune's breath caught in his throat and while a large part of him wanted to leap to Yang's defense, he knew from experience that jumping in to the middle of arguments like these was never a good idea. There were a few seconds of awkward silence before the blonde brawler let out a laugh and lightly punched Taiyang on the shoulder.

"You jerk!"

The tension in the air evaporated like mist under the midday sun as they both laughed. The two teachers let out small laughs as Jaune let out a sigh of relief and smiled, glad that Yang was closer to her usual self rather than the somber girl she had often become after the Fall. He noticed Oobleck lean over the table to whisper something to Port before attempting to surreptitiously glance over at Jaune.

"So, are we finally talking about the Goliath in the room?"

As the laughter died down and the two blondes faced the rest of the room again, Port coughed lightly and leaned forward.

"Miss Xiao L- Yang, if you don't mind me asking, why haven't you tried on the arm yet."

"Oh, yes, yes! A piece of Atlas technology given out like that is rare indeed! Not to mention the effort it took to deliver it here. It seems a great many people want to see you returned to normal."

Jaune tensed slightly as a less than comfortable subject was brought up. He noted that Yang, too, appeared uncomfortable and seemed to shrink in on herself slightly before hesitantly responding.

"I'm... scared."

If someone had told Jaune before the Fall that Yang felt fear, he would've had a hard time believing them. She was the girl who willingly jumped into the mouth of a Nevermore and pummeled its insides with blasts from her gauntlets. But now, he knew that she had a far more vulnerable side to her than she had first let on.

"Everyone keeps talking about me getting back to normal. And I appreciate it, but… this is normal now. It's just taking me a while to get used to it."

 _This is normal now._ The words resonated within Jaune and gave him pause as to what normal meant for him. Was normal back at home with his family? At Beacon with team JNPR? Or was it here, recovering in more ways than one from tragedy and figuring out what his future entailed? He saw Tai reach over and place a comforting hand on Yang's shoulder before shaking it lightly.

"Well, normal is what you make of it."

"What is that supposed to mean? Do you want me to just pretend like nothing happened? I lost a part of me. A piece of me is gone. And it's never coming back."

The confusion was evident in Yang's tone although it began to change into one of frustration near the end. Although he hadn't been addressed since the beginning of the conversation, Jaune had the feeling that Tai's words were aimed at him just as much as they were aimed at his daughter. The older Xiao Long let out a small sigh and closed his eyes before looking back at Yang, speaking slowly and clearly as he did so.

"You're right. It's not coming back. But that doesn't have to stop you from becoming who you wanna be. You're Yang Xiao Long, my sunny little dragon."

He placed both hands on her shoulders, his tone morphing into one of comfort as he did so.

"You can do whatever you put your mind to. So, whenever you're ready to stop moping, and get back out there, I'll be there for you."

"I... I..."

The hesitance in her voice stirred something within Jaune and for the first time since the conversation had started, he spoke.

"Fear isn't something to be ashamed of, Yang. It's something that makes us human. It's how you confront your fear that's the important part."

Four sets of eyes turned to him in surprise, given how silent he had been the entire time. Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port were the first of them to find words.

"Ah, Jaune, my apologies, I had nearly forgotten you were there."

"Indeed, I heard that you had received a replacement for your weapon, what do you think of it?"

Jaune let out a short sigh. "To be honest, I'd rather earn or create my weapon rather than have it given to me."

Both teachers gave him looks of understanding and they five of them talked for a few more minutes before Jaune and Yang excused themselves to head upstairs.

* * *

As Jaune made his way through the living room, a certain photo caught his eye even though the room was quite dark. He had noticed it before, given how long he had been staying in the Xiao Long household, however he never really paid much attention to it despite how greatly it differed from the other pictures in the room. Whereas the other pictures were of landscapes and natural vistas, this one was much older and featured four figures posing as a team. Yang walked a couple of steps further towards the stairs before she noted that Jaune had paused behind her. She returned to his side before a melancholy look filled her face when she saw what had caught his attention.

"Team STRQ."

Jaune jumped slightly at the voice beside him. He had thought that Yang had kept going but she was there, next to him with a look of sorrow in her lilac eyes. He opened his mouth to ask her what she meant by that cryptic statement however she continued speaking, her gaze never leaving the photograph.

"Team STRQ, it was the team that dad and uncle Qrow were a part of back when they were in Beacon."

The blonde girl raised her left hand and pointed to each figure in turn, giving a short description much like Jaune had done with the picture of his family.

"Summer Rose, mine and Ruby's mom." A shorter woman in a white cloak who was practically a mirror image of the young reaper.

"Mine and Ruby's dad, Taiyang Xiao Long." A young blonde man who, aside from lacking some scars and the tattoo, looked identical to how he did now.

"Raven Branwen, my mother." A tall, black-haired woman who looked a lot like Yang but with elaborate red and black armor, an odd-looking sword at her waist and blood red eyes.

"Qrow Branwen, mine and Ruby's uncle." A younger looking Qrow with a massive sword over one shoulder.

The revelation that Yang and Ruby were half-sisters was something that startled Jaune although it explained a lot. He turned to the brawler next to him and noted the distant expression on her face.

"I take it there's more to this, isn't there."

Yang gave a curt nod. "Let's go upstairs, first."

* * *

The two blondes sat side by side on Jaune's bed, simply enjoying each others company as the fractured moon shone down through the window. Jaune felt the blonde beside take a deep breath before beginning her story.

"Ruby and I have lived in this house for as long as either of us can remember. Dad's been a teacher at Signal and Summer would go on missions throughout the kingdoms. She was like, Super-Mom: baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. Whenever she was home from missions, she would spend as much time with us as possible. She gave Ruby her first red cape as a present when she turned three and she always brushed my hair before bed."

There was joy present in Yang's voice but a longing for a simpler and happier time was almost overwhelming. She let out a long sigh as her voice became melancholy.

"But then, one day, she went on a mission to Mistral and never came back. I couldn't have been more than five or six and it was a really rough time. Ruby was heartbroken but I don't think she was old enough to really understand the full truth of what had happened. Dad... shut down for a while and I learned the reason why I few days later once Uncle Qrow showed up to take care of me and Ruby."

Something inside Jaune twisted at the absolute anguish in Yang's voice. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him in an effort to convey as much support and comfort as he could. She leaned into him and took a couple of moments to gather her thoughts.

"It turned out that Summer wasn't the first love he had lost. He and Raven had been closer and closer after they had graduated from Beacon and their relationship eventually culminated in me being born."

Yang was shaking in his arms but her tone was one of fury, not sorrow.

"As soon as she had recovered from giving birth, Raven abandoned me and Dad. I wasn't even a month old and she just vanished into the night without any note at all. Why?"

The anger and rage drained from Yang's voice, leaving her sounding hollow and resigned.

"I've asked myself that question too many times since then. Why did mom leave? Why didn't she care enough to stay with me and Dad? Why? Originally, I thought that if I could find her, it would make Dad happy again. All that obsession led to was me putting myself and Ruby in a situation that, if it wasn't for Qrow saving us, would've ended up with both of us dead. I still want answers and I'm still looking for her but now, I don't know what I would do if I saw her."

They sat in silence for a while, just taking comfort in the simple pleasure of having a friend nearby. Eventually, Yang gently removed herself from Jaune's grasp and gave him a wan smile.

"So, what are you going to do now, Jaune?"

The blonde knight sat quietly for several seconds before meeting Yang's gaze.

"I... don't know. Yang, why did you choose to become a Huntress?"

She let out a small chuckle. "You know, Oobleck asked me that question while we were exploring the ruins of Mountain Glenn. At the time, I told him that I was a thrill seeker and that being a Huntress gave me the chance to have a lot of cool adventures. What I didn't tell him was that I thought that becoming a Huntress would give me the best chance at finding my mother. What about you?"

He let out a brief sigh before quietly speaking. "If you had asked me that when I first arrived at Beacon, I would've said to uphold my family legacy. The day Ruby and my team left, I told you that my siblings and I wanted to be Huntsmen and Huntresses because of our parents. But if I'm being absolutely honest, the reason I ran away to Beacon was to fit in."

He didn't need to look up from staring at his hands to know that Yang had an expression of confusion plastered across her face. He slowly rose to his feet and went to stand by the window, staring up into a vista of impartial stars. He took a quiet courage from the view before looking over his shoulder at the girl still seated on the bed.

"There was a distance that grew between my sisters and I as we became older. It was never something that any of us wanted but it was inevitable, now that I look back on it. I was the only boy out of eight siblings so there were times that I felt alone, even when we were all together. I became afraid of being left behind by my sisters as they all went on to become successful Huntresses while I did _something_ with my life. But when I got to Beacon, my goals changed. I ended up leading a team who supported me, who _cared_ about me. And look how that ended up: I put Pyrrha through so much pain and even accused her of being ashamed of me because of how weak I was. I pushed Ren and Nora away when all they wanted was to help me recover after the Fall. All I managed to do as team leader was hurt them, just like I hurt my family when I ran away to Beacon. I'm no hero, all I am is a fucking screw-up."

 _SMACK!_

Jaune's head cracked to the side from the force of the blow. His cheek stung like crazy and he stumbled slightly from the force of the slap before Yang grabbed the front of his shirt in an iron grip. Her eyes had gone blood red and her hair flickered as she glared at him.

"I thought I already told you this, Jaune. You are not a screw-up. Yes, you made some shitty decisions by pushing your team away but I'm no better. I pushed Ruby away from me as well because I was too caught up in my own self-pity to support my sister. Everybody does things that they regret and say things they wish they could unsay. Like you said downstairs, it's not the fact that they happened that's important but how we deal with them."

As she spoke, her words gradually grew softer and softer, the fire in her hair fading before finally disappearing entirely as her eyes reverted to lilac. With a long sigh, she released his shirt from her grasp and let her hand dangle by her side briefly before she wrapped it around him in a one-armed hug and rested her head against his chest. Jaune instinctively wrapped his arms around her shoulders as they both took comfort in each other, Yang from the sound of Jaune's heart and Jaune from the smell of lavender that came from Yang's hair.

"Yang, I-"

"Shh, I'm not done talking Jaune. I realize now that the prosthetic arm represents a cross-roads of sorts: I can refuse to put it on and let my fears and injuries from the Fall consume me or I can push past them, grow stronger and continue as a Huntress by choosing to put it on. I think you're at a similar one where you can either continue moping about your team and family or you can push forwards, find a new reason to continue as a Huntsman and do something about it."

Jaune closed his eyes and pulled her closer, lightly stroking her hair with one hand although it was more for his benefit than hers.

"I know that my team and my family would be able to forgive me eventually. But I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forgive myself, even if I spend my whole life atoning for what I did."

"Then the least you could do is try. You said some advice that really helped me earlier so I'll return the favor. It's better to try and fail than live your life always wondering 'what if?'. Even if you fail, so long as you give it your all, nobody can say that you didn't do your best."

Jaune cracked a small smile. "Thanks for knocking some sense into me, Yang. I really needed that."

"No problem, Jaune. So, have you made your choice?"

"I think so. Could you and Tai help me get back in shape and learn to fight with one eye?"

Yang pulled back from him slightly and gently punched his arm.

"Why even ask? We're friends, aren't we?"

Her smile changed slightly which caused Jaune to feel slightly apprehensive.

"That reminds me, what did I say to you last time you started blaming yourself?"

Jaune gulped, a feeling of dread welling up inside of him as he remembered their conversation the day Ruby left.

"That you'd... kick my ass if I did it again?"

Yang slowly sauntered out of his room before turning around in the doorway and giving him an absolutely predatory grin.

"You've got one week, Vomit Boy. Sweet dreams."

* * *

 **Aaaand done!**

 **I hope I made up for the wait with my longest chapter ever.**

 **Don't really have much to say aside from the fact that I most likely won't update until the 18th as my best friend is having his 19th birthday tomorrow (the drinking age in Canada) so I can pretty much write Sunday and Monday off as useless.**

 **As always, please leave a review or PM me if you have any questions or thoughts to share.**

 **Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or followed.**

 **No concrete previews beyond that there should hopefully be Jaune/Tai and Jaune/Yang bonding. :D**

 **See you next chapter.**


	7. Bonding

**Review Response:**

 **1potato (Guest): Thanks, I really try to keep the pacing to a realistic rate.**

 **Dethcat: As far as I know, nowhere in the show is it stated that Crocea Mors is indestructible. Funny enough, my original weapon idea for Robin was a staff/whip hybrid but it just didn't work in my head and ended up being really similar to another weapon. As for Jaune's twin not being named Joan, IMO that has been done to death and I wanted to try a different name. I'll talk about Jaune's Aura colour down at the end AN since this is already fairly long and that response is a bit longer.**

 **rwby1989: True, they do pretty much abandon him. It was meant to: A. mirror canon but also B. Ren, to me at least, as the most level-headed and pragmatic of the group would weigh the pros and cons of travelling with Ruby vs staying with Jaune and would side with Ruby.**

 **guest: Sorry, but no cutlass in the works for Jaune's weapon.**

 **Alastor999: That's kind of what spurred me to write this. I asked myself that question, didn't find** **a story on the site that answered it so I created my own answer.**

 **And thank you to deadisdead1234, GeneralAllenWalker, RyoTheSaiyan, Gravenimage, guest and HopeLie for their reviews.**

 **Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

Dust billowed around Jaune's feet, marking his unwilling traversal of the hard-packed earth. He raised his arms into a position to guard his head but it was hastily made and quickly broke under the force of the ensuing punch. The strike staggered the blonde knight and he swayed back and forth, attempting to regain his balance before another punch landed. However, it wasn't a punch that struck him next but a scything kick that swept both feet out from under him, causing him to let out an undignified yelp that was abruptly cut off as his back slammed into the ground. Jaune lay there, chest heaving up and down as he fought to regain his breath. A hand suddenly entered his vision and he grabbed it, allowing himself to be hauled to his feet by his opponent.

"Well, you've definitely improved, Jaune."

Jaune let out a short, cynical chuckle, rolling his eye as he did so.

"Yeah, I managed to last 30 seconds this time."

"That's still an improvement, no matter how small it may seem."

Tai handed him a towel before moving towards the nearby shade, clapping Jaune warmly on the shoulder as he did so. The knight joined him under the shade a few moments later, gladly accepting a bottle of water from the older blonde. They sat in silence for a few seconds, both rehydrating after the series of bouts they fought.

"You need to be more aggressive, Jaune."

"What do you mean?"

Tai let out a long sigh before making eye contact with Jaune.

"What I mean, is that you can't always evade and fight defensively without ever going on offense, especially in a fistfight. At best, you're delaying the inevitable. At worst, you're all but surrendering to you're opponent."

The older Xiao Long paused for a moment and took a drink of water before continuing.

"Now then, I'm not saying that you should mindlessly rush at your opponent and attack them without any form of strategy. Rather, you need to fight smart, Jaune. Your biggest weaknesses in combat are your lack of training and experience but your biggest strength is your large Aura reserves. Now that would seem to imply that your best bet in a fight would be to let your opponent wear themselves down on your Aura before attacking once they've tired themselves out. On paper, that works. But in reality, you need to be attacking and wearing down their Aura the entire fight. A war of attrition can be fought defensively but it can't be won without aggression. Now, I know it feels like an enormous amount of effort for just a small improvement but I believe you can do it."

"Why do you have so much faith in me?"

"Jaune, have you ever asked yourself why Oz made you leader?"

The knight was caught off guard by the question and found himself answering it without even thinking.

"A lot, actually. Why would he pick me, the least skilled member of the team, when Pyrrha, Ren or even Nora would've made more sense?"

Tai let out a small chuckle before turning serious again.

"Ruby asked me a similar question a few days before she... left. Why did Ozpin select the youngest and most naive member of her team to lead them. The two of you have a lot in similar, Jaune. You were both chosen to be team leaders when you were arguably the least appropriate for the role. Now, I can't claim to know how Oz's brain worked but I know that he chose leaders based not on who they were but who they could become. He saw potential in you and Ruby but even more than that he saw another trait that the two of you share: Conviction. Out of everyone on your teams, the two of you were the most determined, whether it was to help others, improve yourselves or simply to see whatever it is you are doing to the end. Conviction is an important trait for Huntsmen and Huntresses and it's something that you can't teach or learn. The reason why I have so much faith in you is because I know that your conviction and determination will drive you to never give up on what you set out to do."

Jaune cracked a small smile, relief filling him. "Thanks, I needed that."

"No problem, one more before dinner?"

* * *

A few days later, the evening sun found Jaune on his bed, reclining against the headboard with a pad of paper propped up against his knees and a pencil loosely gripped in his right hand. He had spent the last hour since supper had ended staring blankly at the paper in front of him, trying to come up with some idea of a weapon and armor to replace that which he lost in the Fall. The knight let out a huff of air, frustrated by his lack of progress. The pencil crossed the paper at random, doodling away in an attempt to find the spark which would jump-start his muse. Jaune knew from experience that once he had inspiration and a starting point, things would flow much quicker as his brain would branch out and unleash a veritable torrent of ideas. He had a couple of ideas for armor, however he wanted to nail down his weapon first. After all, it was fairly ridiculous to wear heavy armor if you ended up wielding a fairly light weapon like a dagger. Jaune was only alerted to the fact that there was someone else in the room with him when they flopped down on the bed next to him and lightly punched his shoulder.

"What'cha up to, Vomit Boy?"

Jaune flinched slightly, extremely glad that Yang had decided to sit on his good side, for more than one reason. He turned his head slightly so that the blonde brawler was centered in his field of view and gave her a small smile.

"Hey, Yang. Just... trying to figure out my weapon. Not having much luck though."

"Would you mind some help?"

"Not at all."

With that, she neatly plucked both pencil and paper from his grip, flipped to a clean page and started writing away. Jaune found it surprisingly difficult to pay attention to what she was writing and not stare at her openly. Between the slightly furrowed brow and the way she stuck out the tip of her tongue in concentration made her look extremely cute. Which was odd, since _cute_ wasn't a word often used to describe Yang Xiao Long. He was forced out of his musings when she handed him back the paper with two lists written down on it. One of the lists was labeled 'Strengths' and contained points like his height, strength, high durability, limited training, and tactical skill. The other was 'Weaknesses' and mentioned stuff like his lack of experience, his lack of strategy in a one on one fight and his tendency to rush headlong at an opponent when his frustration got the best of him. Looking at the lists, Jaune felt it to be a fairly blunt summary of his skills.

He handed back the paper. "So, I would want a strength-based weapon with reach, some defensive properties, easy to learn and versatile enough for both duels and fighting a horde of Grimm. That helps narrow it down but where to go from here?"

Yang gave him a slightly concerned look before speaking. "Would you be mad if I said that a sword and shield are still probably your best bet?"

He let out a long sigh, giving the blonde girl next to him a sidelong glance.

"Not to be an asshole, but I already said I wanted my new weapon to be different from Crocea Mors."

"And it can. Just because it's a sword and shield doesn't mean it has to be a carbon copy of your old weapon. It's good at both offense and defense and you already know how to wield it so you won't need to learn a completely new fighting style."

Jaune thought up as many different weapons as possible in his head and came to the begrudging conclusion that Yang was most likely correct. While there were many weapons that had more offensive power than a sword and shield, most of them had drastically different fighting styles than what he knew and they fell behind greatly when it came to defense.

"You make a good point and as much as I hate to admit it, the easiest thing to do would be to use Crocea Mors as a starting point and go from there by modifying it."

"If that's what you want to do, then alright. The best place to start would be focusing on the biggest weaknesses Crocea Mors had."

"Definitely range. It sucked not being able to do anything unless whatever I was fighting was in arms reach."

Yang let out a 'hmmmm' and made a few notes on the paper in front of her. Jaune was taken by surprise at this more professional side of Yang. From what he had seen around Beacon, the brawler normally completed assignments and homework with a large amount of reluctance. Seeing her put this much effort into helping him design a new weapon was very touching.

"I was thinking we could increase the size of your weapon to take advantage of your height and strength. The blade of Crocea Mors was around two and a half feet long, right?"

Jaune thought back, while he had never measured Crocea Mors, it had been roughly the length of his arm. "Yeah, something like that."

She made another note. "We could turn it into a bastard sword and put another foot of blade on it, if you want."

"Bastard sword?"

Yang turned to him. "It's longer than a one-handed straight sword but shorter than a two-handed greatsword. You can use it one-handed or two-handed which gives it some more versatility. It's also called a hand-and-a-half sword."

"Sounds good to me. One question though: how do you know this much about swords?"

The blonde brawler gave him an amused look. "When you live with as big a weapons nut as Ruby is for as long as I have, you end up picking up a bunch of knowledge you otherwise wouldn't know. So, do you want to keep the shield as a heater shield or something different?"

"I think I'll stick with the heater shield. I'm used to it and it's got a nice balance to it. Not sure if I still want to have it collapse into a sheath though."

She made a few more notes. "I'll put that down as a maybe. Even if we don't have it collapse into a sheath, we could still have it shift into something though. Anything else you would want to add?"

The knight sat in thoughtful silence for several minutes, running over any weaknesses he had with Crocea Mors that had yet to be addressed. An idea came to mind and while he was unable to put it into words properly, he leaned over and made a couple small doodles on the page to convey his idea to Yang. She gave him a grin and hopped off the bed, cracking her knuckles as she did so.

"Alright, we'll figure out the details another day, Vomit Boy. But for now, you remember what I said a week ago?"

A sense of dread began to fill Jaune as he recalled that a week ago was the day that Port and Oobleck had visited. That meant that today was...

"I had a week until you kicked my ass."

"Bingo."

If anything, Yang's grin grew wider and she had a mischievous glint in her eyes. Her prosthetic arm snapped out and caught his wrist in an inescapable grip as the began dragging him out the door. Jaune knew that he wouldn't get any mercy, friends or not so all he did as he was dragged to his fate was to gulp loudly and pray he survived.

* * *

Yang dragged Jaune a short distance into the woods to the clearing with the fallen log. She released his wrist from the iron grip she held it in and crossed the clearing, stretching out her muscles as she did so. Jaune took a few deep breaths and did his best to loosen the tension in his body. He slowly lifted both fists up into a fairly standard guard and proceeded to formulate a strategy as best he could.

 _Alright, so I'm 100% screwed. She's faster, stronger and has years of experience in fistfighting. While I'm have more Aura, he_ _r Semblance makes it pretty much impossible for me to somehow draw this out and wear her down. I know Tai said I need to be more aggressive but that's practically a death sentence in this situation. My best bet would probably be to let my higher Aura tank her hits, try not to die immediately and somehow knock her off her feet. If I can pin her, I may be able to make her yield. Then again, that's just as likely to blow up in my face as it is to work._

The knight turned his head to the side slightly so that the brawler was centered in his field of view.

"You ready to get your ass kicked, Vomit Boy?"

Jaune could only shrug a response back to her as he tightened his guard and planted his feet as best he could in preparation of the incoming onslaught. Yang did not disappoint, charging across the clearing and sending a jab towards his stomach. He managed to knock the blow aside, however the brawler merely followed through with the movement and sent a crushing backhand into his shoulder. The boy staggered, caught off guard by the sheer strength of her blow. He knew Yang was strong, however he never had the fortune, good or back, to duel her in Goodwitch's combat class so he lacked any firsthand experience. The blow was pretty much on par with the Ursa from Forever Fall and it had been delivered with her left hand. Jaune was given no more time for thought as he narrowly avoided a kick aimed at his legs but was unable to prevent the follow-up hook that slammed into his side. He grunted in pain, feeling the much greater force of that blow that he was sure could almost rival Magnhild in terms of sheer kinetic force. He maintained this fashion of combat, doing his best to avoid, block or deflect as many blows as possible before invariable falling prey to one of them. Whether it was a snap kick to his thigh that had him limping briefly or a fist slamming into his gut and knocking the wind out of him, he slowly but surely fell back under the relentless assault.

An idea sparked in his brain as he managed to dodge a particularly brutal kick to his solar plexus by sidestepping to his right, squinting as he did so as it caused him to face directly into the setting sun. A small smile formed on his face, a far cry from the look of concentration and terror he wore a few seconds ago. He turned to the left slightly, both to get the sun out of his eye as well as to refocus his vision on Yang. He kept up fighting Yang defensively, however whenever he was forced to retreat from her blows, he made sure to always back away towards the right. If one were to view the fight from above, they would notice than Jaune's path was carving a perfect arc around the perimeter of the clearing. Eventually his patience paid off and as he backed away from another terrifying combo, he put his back to the sun and as Yang turned to face him once again, she was forced to throw one arm in front of her eyes to shield them.

Jaune charged forwards, immediately changing gears from defense to offense, capitalizing on Yang's disadvantaged situation. However, in his elation, he missed a crucial fact that most likely would've caused him to be more hesitant: the massive grin that Yang had on her face. As the knight neared her, she dropped her arm and grabbed Jaune by the front of his shirt with both hands. She lowered her stance, grit her teeth, and bodily threw Jaune across the clearing. Somehow, he miraculously managed to regain his footing after tumbling a good dozen feet across the forest floor. He stood up, shaking his head as he did so to clear it of any dizziness. Yang gave him no more time to recover and charged across the clearing once again to slam a blow into Jaune's hastily raised guard. While he had regained his footing and some semblance of a defensive stance, his balance was still shot and it took only a few more blows before he staggered backwards. Yang stood there, watching him begin to topple over but was caught off guard when he managed to stay on his feet and proceeded to lunge at her.

At this point, Jaune was running on fumes and the determination to deny Yang an absolute victory over him. He slammed into her, grappling with her in an attempt to drag her down with him as he fell. Be it either catching her off guard, her own weariness or sheer chance, his body impacting hers was enough to unbalance her to the point that his weight was enough to cause her fall with him. The brawler twisted in mid-air, rotating herself and Jaune so that when they hit the ground she fell on top of him. Lilac eyes met cobalt as both of them gasped for air. Before Jaune knew what had just happened, Yang was off of him and rapidly walking to back to the house, a new tension in her body. Several things had just happened in rapid succession but there was one fact that Jaune was certain of:

Yang Xiao Long had just kissed him.

* * *

 ***Innocent whistling***

 **So, Jaune's Aura not being white: there are few hard and fast rules about Aura that canon gave us. It's an extension of the soul, it protects you, it has a healing factor, it needs to be unlocked by someone with Aura and it has a colour. Beyond that there really isn't much else which leaves a fairly nebulous area that can be used for headcannons. My own personal headcannon for at least this story is that all Auras are white when they are first unlocked as sort of a 'blank page' and then change to the actual colour of the person's soul over time. The last time we see Jaune's Aura as white was Forever Fall, that I can remember off the top of my head, and that was maybe a month or so after initiation. The Fall is several months after that so Jaune's Aura has plenty of time to change. That's all.**

 **As always, please leave a review or PM me if you have any questions, thoughts to share or just want to chat.**

 **Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or followed.**

 **Next chapter:**

 **(I mean, do you really need a hint?)**

 **See you next chapter.**


	8. Emotion

**First off, holy shit we broke 100 follows. You guys are awesome.**

 **Second, I apologize for the delayed update. Long story short: heat, sickness, writer's block and binge-watching One Piece. (The last one is not a good reason, I know).**

 **Review Response:**

 **Rasner: Main difference is that Jaune's weapon is not as ridiculous as Guts'.**

 **Guest: There's a bit of Yang POV in this chapter and maybe some later in the story.**

 **And thank you to Gravenimage, campione278, SuperHappySpider, GeneralAllenWalker and StormatronXLIV for their reviews.**

 **Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.**

* * *

 _The breath left Jaune's lungs as his back slammed into the forest floor and Yang fell heavily on top of him. His single azure eye met her pair of lilac and before he was able to react, she quickly leaned down and pressed her lips to his. Within a second, she had pulled back and hurried to her feet before all but running out of the clearing altogether._

Jaune gave a wistful sigh, replaying the memory of what happened not two hours ago in his head yet again. He was very confused as to why a girl like Yang, extraordinarily beautiful, popular and a badass fighter would ever have feelings like that for an average guy like him. He wasn't super handsome or an incredibly skilled fighter or even overly popular. He concluded that trying to figure out Yang's motives for kissing him weren't going to get him anywhere. The only person who could answer that question was Yang herself but Jaune knew that walking into her room right now was a bad idea. She had seemed almost as surprised as he was that she had kissed him and she had quickly fled the clearing. She had proceeded to shut herself in her room and while he could go talk to her, doing so without sorting out his own thoughts was asking for trouble. The blonde knight figured that the best course of action was to figure out his feelings for not only Yang, but the rest of team RWBY as well as Pyrrha and Nora.

Nora was the easiest. During their time at Beacon, she had essentially become another sister to him. She was goofy, energetic, loyal and more than a little insane but she was always fun to be around and lifted his spirits. He never looked at her as someone that he would seek any relationship beyond that of a close friend and any love he felt for her was that of a sibling long before he noticed how she and Ren looked at each other when the other wasn't paying attention.

Ruby was just as clear-cut. She was his first friend at Beacon and so similar to his youngest sister in both dress and personality that it was weird and felt a little wrong to look at her in any fashion beyond that of a sibling. Like every girl Jaune knew, she was beautiful in her own way, albeit far more cute and adorable than anyone else at Beacon. This just reinforced his older-brother tendencies and even further removed her from being a potential romantic partner.

Blake was another easy one to figure out. While the two of them weren't all that close and any conversations the two of them had barely went past greeting each other in the hallway, he still considered her a friend and would do anything to help her. However, romance was never a thought that crossed his brain when he was around her. They had no real common ground that a romantic relationship could be founded on. While she was undoubtedly beautiful and had an allure of the unknown around her, he never had and probably never would look at her as someone he would date.

His feelings for Weiss were more complex to sort out. While he had spent a large portion of his time at Beacon flirting with her or fruitlessly asking her out and when he looked back on it, Jaune realized that it was only because she had seemed like some symbol of perfection to him or fulfilled some childish princess-and-the-knight fantasy. He realized now that his feelings for Weiss had been nothing more than a schoolboy crush and he hadn't actually gotten to know her. The dance had opened his eyes to how shallow his affections had seemed and he had pushed Neptune to be with the heiress rather than continue to pursue her. A small sigh passed his lips, knowing that he had made an ass out of himself consistently for several months, embarrassing her several times over in the process, and she had been far more polite in turning him down over and over again than she had reason to be. Jaune owed her one hell of an apology whenever he saw her again.

The complexity of his feelings for Weiss didn't even hold a candle to the absolute mess of emotions that surfaced when he thought of his flame-haired partner. Happiness, support, comfort, and safety all came to mind but so did less pleasant emotions such as guilt, regret, resentment, anger and shame. Despite the wedge that had been driven between them, he still considered Pyrrha to be one of his closest friends. A regretful expression crossed Jaune's face, knowing now the true extent of the spartan's feelings for him.

 _It's so obvious now, how could I have missed it? Then again, hindsight is 20/20 even if I'm missing an eye._

A part of him wondered if things would've played out differently had he not been so blind to Pyrrha's emotions at Beacon but another part of him knew that it wouldn't have worked out. Much like how Ruby had strongly reminded him of his youngest sister, Pyrrha's caring and supportive nature was so similar to that of his eldest sister that he had long before accepted her as such. A solitary tear trailed down Jaune's cheek as he contemplated the amount of pain he could've unintentionally caused Pyrrha. Could he ever atone for what he had done to his partner?

He regained his composure, turned his thoughts to Yang and an absolute torrent of images, emotions and memories washed over him. Jaune did his best to focus on the memories that pertained to Yang as a person. At first glance, most would've taken the blonde brawler to be a stereotypical party-girl: vivacious, loud, beautiful, shallow and none too bright. While Yang certainly matched some of those criteria, she had constantly proved others false. A perfect example of that would be the dance: rather than spend the night partying it up like many assumed she would, she had spent the majority of the celebration on the balcony which overlooked the dance hall and simply enjoyed the happiness of others. While perhaps not as intelligent as Weiss, Blake or Ren, Yang was certainly no slouch when it came to classes and was terrifyingly cunning in battle. She cared deeply for all of her friends, at times seeming to mother them even though they were all the same age and now that Jaune knew more of her life growing up it made perfect sense. After Summer had passed, Yang had taken on the mantle of mother to Ruby and was forced to grow up quickly in order to care for her sister. She had demonstrated on several occasions the lengths she was willing to go for a friend and while extraordinarily supportive, she was not above knocking some sense into them.

As he sifted through more and more memories, Jaune found that he was no closer to making sense of his emotions. Instead of focusing further, he relaxed his mental hold and let anything and everything come to the forefront of his thoughts. Smaller things came to mind: the scent of lavender in her hair and the way it shone like spun gold when the light hit it just right, how beautiful her eyes were either lilac or blood-red, the importance she placed on family, the way her cheeks dimpled slightly when she smiled, her passion for life, her laugh. A warm sensation built up in his chest as he thought more and more about what made Yang, well, _Yang_. She was someone that Jaune could relate to far more than anyone else he knew and his lips formed a peaceful smile as the realization struck him. Did he love Yang? Maybe, he wasn't 100% sure. Did he like Yang, or as Nora would've put it _like-like_?

Definitely.

* * *

Yang was worried and feeling more than a little panic as she stared out the window at the stars above. While worry was an emotion that she was quite familiar with, being an older sister meant she worried over Ruby all the time. Panic, however, was not an emotion she felt often. She had always been confident in the decisions she made and did her best to live life without regrets. However, her kissing Jaune earlier that day had been the exact opposite.

At first, she hadn't thought all that highly of the scrawny, blonde boy. He was easily the worst fighter in their year, was physically unimpressive and more than a little foolish. But over the course of their time at Beacon, her opinion of him had changed drastically. His determination had been what first impressed her, not only to improve himself but to stick any situation out to the bitter end. His selflessness was another. She had heard from Weiss that Jaune had gone out of his way to get Neptune to go talk to her, regardless of what Jaune's feelings were. The blonde knight was also extremely respectful, looking only for friendship among a large group of girls rather than something more. He had even stopped flirting with Weiss shortly after the dance. Plus, he was Ruby's first friend at Beacon which counted for something in Yang's book. Before the Fall of Beacon, Yang could easily have said that Jaune was her friend.

It was after the Fall that things got complicated. Much like her, he had fought an opponent far beyond their caliber and had paid the price. She had lost an arm to that White Fang bastard and Jaune had lost an eye fighting someone in the ruins of Beacon Tower. They had also both lost their partners, albeit in different fashions. Blake had abandoned her during the Fall whereas a rift had opened up between Jaune and Pyrrha. Both had been left behind by those closest to them when Ruby and the rest of team JNPR had left for Haven, leaving the two of them with only each other to look to. Once again, Jaune had shown how selfless he was. Yang knew that he was in as much pain, both mental and physical, to her but he had constantly pushed it aside in order to comfort her. They knew how horrible it was to feel weak and alone. Family was as important to him as it was to her, the joy and sorrow in Jaune's voice whenever he talked about them made it clearly evident. More than that, Jaune was one of two people that Yang had told about Raven and for entirely different reasons than why she had told Blake.

Yang couldn't place when she had started to fall for Jaune but she had realized the truth of her feelings a week ago, shortly after she had left his room. They had honestly scared her as Jaune had become her closest friend and she didn't want to ruin that. Even though he had stopped flirting with Weiss after the dance, the brawler was unsure of whether or not he still had feelings for the heiress. Not to mention the crush that Pyrrha had on him that was plain as day to everyone but the blonde knight. Hell, even _Ruby_ had picked up on the spartan's feelings and Ruby was as socially awkward as they came. Yang feared that if she confessed her feelings to Jaune and he rejected her that it would not only ruin their friendship but leave her alone once again, a feeling she had not felt since her mom had died and the thought of being alone once again terrified her.

A knock from the doorway caused her to look over her shoulder. The person in the doorway was obviously male with blonde hair and blue eyes however her lilac eyes widened, her blood turned to ice and her gut clenched as she realized that there was only one blue orb staring back at her. It wasn't her father silhouetted in the doorway but rather the blonde boy she had kissed a couple of hours ago. Yang was unable to move from where she sat, the moment of truth had arrived.

* * *

A seed of doubt planted itself in Jaune's mind when he saw the shocked and somewhat fearful expression on Yang's face. What if the kiss had been an accident? What if she didn't have any feelings past those of a friend? What if-. Jaune firmly stopped the train of 'what if's. Asking those right now would get him no where and would only serve to undermine his resolve. The only way he would get the truth was for him to gather his courage and ask Yang directly.

"May I come in, Yang?"

The blonde brawler remained silent for several seconds before slowly nodding.

"Y-yea."

The knight made his way into the room and took a seat next to the girl. Yang was trembling next to him but she remained resolute and didn't turn away from him. Jaune took a couple deep breaths, gathered as much courage and resolve as he could and turned to face Yang.

"Yang, about earlier. I was wondering-."

"Jaune, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kiss you, it was an accident. I know you probably still have feelings for Weiss and that Pyrrha has a huge crush on you. Please don't be angry with me, I messed up and made a mistake. However I feel doesn't matter. Even if you don't have feelings, can we still be friends? I don't want to mess up the only close friend I have right now and I don't want to be alone. Pl-"

Yang's rambling was cut off by Jaune cupping her cheeks in his hands and softly pressing his lips to hers. He broke the kiss after a couple of seconds, leaving Yang stunned. While it would have been highly inappropriate, he kind of wanted to take a picture of the absolute confusion that was expressed on Yang's face right now. He gave the bewildered brawler a gentle smile.

"All I wanted to ask you was if you felt the same way I do."

Yang's eyes widened to almost comic proportions and she sharply inhaled. He wasn't serious, was he? She didn't even hold a candle to Pyrrha so why would he have feelings for her? Not to mention he had spent months trying to get with Weiss. She wanted to say yes but her worries and fears made it into words first.

"B-but, what about Weiss? Or Pyrrha? Why me?"

The hands that cupped her face shifted to the back of her head and the middle of her back, pulling her into a hug.

"I realized a while ago that my crush on Weiss was just that, a crush. Nothing more. As for Pyrrha, I see know how blind I was to her feelings but she's like an older sister to me, much like how Ruby is like a younger sister. I could never properly return her feelings. Not only that but there's not much we have in common."

The knight paused for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing.

"But it's different with you, Yang. I'm not good with words but I'll do my best. With you, I can relate to so much: the frustration of feeling weak, the importance of family, the pain of feeling alone. Whenever you're near me, it feels like a weight's been taken off my shoulders. You're the person I can trust the most and when I was at my lowest, instead of giving me pity you helped pull me out of my self-blame and despair. You mean more to me than anyone else, Yang."

Jaune's words shocked Yang to her core. She lifted her head and was taken aback by the conviction and pure honesty in his gaze. She was unable to find the words to properly express how she felt, so she responded by wrapping both arms around his neck and capturing his lips in a passionate kiss. Yang did her best to convey everything she felt towards the blonde knight through the kiss. He eagerly returned the kiss and it wasn't until they both needed oxygen that they broke the kiss. Jaune gave her a goofy grin.

"I take it that means you feel the same way?"

Lilac eyes rolled in their sockets. "Well, duh, Vomit Boy."

He gave a low chuckle and tightened his grip around her before falling backwards. Yang gave a short yelp before relaxing and resting her head on Jaune's chest, the sound of his heartbeat soothing her. However, as relaxed and happy as Yang was, an important question was unanswered.

"What does this make us, Jaune?"

He was quiet for several moments before perking up and giving Yang a smile.

"Well, Yang. Would you be my girlfriend?"

She leaned up and quickly pressed her lips to his for a few seconds before giving him a massive smile.

"Yes."

* * *

 **The ship has sailed! :P**

 **As an aside, I honestly didn't expect to finish up this chapter only a day late. I had maybe a quarter of the chapter completed by Friday but I guess that's what music and inspiration will do.**

 **As always, please leave a review or PM me if you have any questions, thoughts to share or just want to chat.**

 **Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or followed.**

 **Next chapter:**

 **Jaune's weapon is finished.**

"Can't have a Huntsman without a weapon, can we?"

 **And named.**

"Hmmmm."

 **And an important decision is made.**

"So where do we go from here?"

 **See you next chapter.**


End file.
